Demographic trends in mortality due to ovarian cancer in the United States, 1999-2020 https://tinyurl.com/2py9489j Progress in care for patients with ovarian cancer can be slow.  It often seems that  a  cure   is  impossible and that  there has been no improvement in the outcomes for women who face this great challeng e. However, it is important to recognise that change is  occurring  and  that  survival has significantly increased over recent times. This survey looks at mortality due to ovarian cancer  and the trend of improvement in the  US  over the current century. Using data from the CDC epidemiological database  the decrease in deaths from ovarian cancer is shown  with a reduction from the  initial  rate of 14.6/100,000  in 199 9  to 10.2/100,000 in 2020. This dramatic change no doubt reflects better care and earlier detection of disease . Sadly, the data also shows that this improvement...

Epithelial ovarian cancer and borderline  tumo u rs  during pregnancy: a report from the International Network on Cancer, Infertility, and Pregnancy https://tinyurl.com/4fbdzz6w Any cancer found during pregnancy causes great concern, with  possible damage  to the f oetus and mother being the main worry, although change in the progression of d isease due to altered immunology also is a   factor . Fortunately, ovarian cancer is not common during pregnancy. This  article  looks at the  available  information  with respect to maternal and foetal outcomes.  About 1% of all preg n a ncies have an incidental finding of  an adnexal mass. This is more often found now that  ultrasound  examination is part of th e normal standard of care . There is  a   very low  incidence of these masses being found to  be malignant (0.2 -3/100,000). Of the malignant masses ,  three quar ters are due to borderline tumou...

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in recurrent ovarian cancer: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.  https://tinyurl.com/5n6ujj6a As knowledge increases there is more understanding of the treatment of ovarian cancer. One of the special characteristics of ovarian cancer is the early metastasis especially to the peritoneal lining of the abdomen. As an attempt to treat this spread, which is often microscopic, an invasive and painful therapy called Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. (HIPEC) has been promoted.  This article is a review of all the available data relating to clinical trials of HIPEC when compared to standard chemo without HIPEC. The endpoints for the study are progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and post operative complications. Only 4 trials were shown to fit the criteria with 801 participants of whom 398 received HIPEC in addition to standard care. The results were ...

The antibody–drug conjugate targeting ROR1, NBE-002, is active in high-grade serous ovarian cancer preclinical models https://tinyurl.com/2h8jthp9 New pre-clinical research from Sydney Australia has shown a possible new therapy for o varian cancer. The research  identifies  the effectiveness of inhibition of  a cell membrane receptor named  the receptor tyrosine kinase orphan receptor 1 (ROR1). This receptor becomes more active with ovarian cancer. Usually, ROR1 has an  important  part in early embryonic  development and is suppressed later.  In the presence of cancer increased ROR1  activity promotes cancer growth and spread. An antibody/drug combination  labelled NBE 002 has been shown to block the receptor w ith  restric tion of  cell m etabolism caus ing  cell death. This early study showed about half the cell types used which had been previously grown from human ovarian cancer  had increased ROR1 activity. If the...

New method of Taxol production has the potential to  greatly reduce  the cost https://tinyurl.com/3hrrx7x4 Since 1996 Taxol ,  a growth suppressant has been used, together with carboplatin ,  a cytotoxic ,  in the  initial  chemo treatment  of ovarian cancer. Originally extracted from the bark of  the Pacific Yew tree, Taxol is the most expensive in terms of raw ingredients of any drug in common use. The  original  process  required the bark from two trees for each individual treatment kill ing the tree which took 100 years to mature.  Subsequently it has been extracted from the  harvested Yew needles at a cost of US$20000/ Kg. These too are in short supply. Now a biosynthetic process using cloned yeast cells has been developed ,  thereby ensuring an adequate supply at much less cost.  Hopefully  this will make this essential treatment more readily available ,  especially in third world countries.

FDA Approves New Treatment for KRAS-Mutated Recurrent Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer https://tinyurl.com/4t7up48w Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (LGSOC) is rare,  comprising  about 5% of all  ovarian cancer an d difficult to treat . Usua lly, patients with LGSOC have better survival than other forms of ovarian cancer. However, recurrence  is common, eight out of ten women with LGSOC  will have a recurrence of the cancer. Recurrent LGSOC is  resistant, meaning   chemo used as the first-line treatment  is  no longer effective. Women with LGSOC are often younger than the usual  ovarian cancer patients,   the opportunity cost is greater when recurrence occurs. The new targeted therapy using the antibody drug combination   Avutometinib  plus  Defactinib  is a welcome addition to LGSOC recu rrence management. FDA approval for this drug follows enco uraging results from the RAMP-201 clinical trial.  The  tar...

Uptake of lipids from ascites drives NK cell metabolic dysfunction in ovarian cancer https://tinyurl.com/yc4ssp65 Free fluid in the abdominal cavity is called ascites. When ascites occurs in patients with ovarian cancer it  has always been recognised as an ominous sign of near death. Some understanding of why is now becoming  clear. Previously it was thought that the loss of protein and general debility that  occurs with ascites was responsible. This research suggests that the immune response to cancer is suppressed by fat content  in the fluid. The immune response to ovarian cancer is  generated by a cellular mechanism via lymphocytes. There are two main types; T c ells which are specific to the cancer cell antigen and  Natural  Killer  (NK)  cells which are non-specific and have  a protective function by reducing metastasis of cancer  and causing cell death . In the presence of ascites, the immune response is suppressed . Using an...