FDA Places PC14586, for Cancers with Mutant Protein, on Fast Track https://tinyurl.com/y5kv3utz            Of recent times there has been a concentration on the treatment of ovarian cancer resulting from inherited or germ line mutations. High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer is the commonest and most lethal, this is associated with an acquired or somatic mutation (TP53) in about 97% of cases.            Now for the first time, a recent determination, by the Federal Drug Agency to fast-track acceptance for investigation of a new drug; PC14586, raises the prospect of a remedy for this somatic mutation.          This drug is to be tested through a Phase I/II trial looking to establish its safety and effectiveness.   As with all clinical trials, the likelihood of progression to standard treatment is less than 2%. 

Breaking down the barriers: a new collaborative model providing fertility care for young cancer patients https://tinyurl.com/y6t5jhuu            Loss of fertility is of great concern to young women who undergo surgery and chemotherapy for cancer. Risk reduction surgery is now offered to those women who have an increased risk of ovarian cancer due to genetic predisposition.          For pre-pubertal girls cryopreservation of ovarian tissue may be the only way to preserve fertility. There has been difficulty in access for patients outside major centres.          A long-standing Fertility Preservation Service has been available in Melbourne. This has now been expanded to provide a nation-wide tissue retrieval and transportation service.          Fertility preservation should be mandatory in cancer care; this...

Tackling misconceptions about ovarian cancer  https://tinyurl.com/y58cmcfu            With ovarian cancer early detection is critical for better survival. Because there is no screening test a high index of suspicion by women is essential. Adequate education as to symptoms and signs is needed.          This study performed in Melbourne, Australia was a telephone survey of almost 500 women looking at their understanding of ovarian cancer.          The results were alarming; 65% thought there is an effective screening test and that a PAP smear was used to detect ovarian cancer, 50% thought that a vaccine is available to prevent ovarian cancer. All these assumptions are incorrect.           Confusion regarding the vaccine is thought to be a result of the high numbers of women who have been immunised...

  Preventing drug resistance to PARP inhibition in ovarian cancer through novel dosing regimens based on cancer evolutionary dynamics https://tinyurl.com/yymjfer6            The historical use of chemotherapy has been an attempt at elimination, looking to cure. However, for many tumours including ovarian cancer there is high recurrence rate often associated with resistance to the first-line drug therapy.          The development of drug resistant cancer may be an evolutionary process with survival of the fittest, being the evolution of a cancer clone to resist chemo. This preliminary report of an on-going PhD project addresses the issue of resistance to PARP inhibition.          Evolutionary dynamic theory aims to control rather than eliminate cancer, the idea being that stop-start intermittent treatment will prolong the effectiveness of the en...

Real-World Outcomes of Olaparib for Relapsed BRCA Ovarian Cancer Consistent with Previous Trials https://tinyurl.com/y38jzscg                           With any new therapy or drug treatment there is a honeymoon period of great enthusiasm and hope. This can be exaggerated by the results of Clinical Trials, which may emphasise positive results and present them in a manner calculated to increase sales.          Fortunately scientific method assists to determine the true impact of trials by replication and confirmation. This article looks at a real-world study of 128 women with relapsed ovarian cancer who were treated with Olaparib as part of normal therapy and compared the outcomes with the published trial results (SOLO III).          The SOLO III trial examined the effect of Olaparib treatment fo...

Early ovarian ageing: are a low number of oocytes harvested in young women associated with an earlier and increased risk of age-related diseases? https://tinyurl.com/y3xd2cxa           IVF is big business in Australia; one in twenty of all live births are following IVF therapy. There were more than 84,000 IVF cycles in 2018. These cycles are providing data, which is available for other purposes.          This study looked at the number of eggs harvested during an IVF cycle and determined that a low number (less than 5) was an indicator of early ovary ageing (EOA) and a warning of early menopause.          Ovarian cancer is mostly a disease of menopausal women; why this is so is unknown. The authors suggest that women who shows signs of EOA should be counseled about increased risk of menopause related disease.

Sleep characteristics and risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women https://tinyurl.com/yx977xa7            This study of almost 110,000 women as part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) looks at sleep patterns and the effect on ovarian cancer incidence. The WHI began in 1991 with a total enrollment of 160,000 women looking at health issues for post-menopausal women mainly cancer, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.          The findings from the review are that the overall risk of ovarian cancer is unaffected by sleep disturbance. However, the grade of cancer differs between those who describe their sleep as restful or very restful and those who don’t.          Women with insomnia have a higher incidence of invasive or high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Good sleepers are more likely to have low invasive borderline or low-grade serou...