New Biologic Drug Is Targeted Treatment for Ovarian Cancer

Researchers have announced the development of a new biologic drug targeted to treat ovarian cancer. Its design could improve the treatment and survival statistics for some women suffering from this type of malignancy.

Scientists from the Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island have created a biologic drug that can halt the manufacture of a protein called HE4 that is present in women who suffer from ovarian cancer. According to ScienceDaily, this protein promotes the aggressive growth of ovarian cancer cells that are also resistant to treatment with chemotherapy.

There are three main kinds of ovarian tumors, says the American Cancer Society. The most frequent type is an epithelial tumor, which originates in cells covering an ovary's outer surface. The origin of a germ cell tumor is in cells that manufacture eggs. Stromal tumors begin in structural cells that keep the ovary together and that also manufacture female hormones. All of these tumors can be benign or malignant.

The National Cancer Institute estimated 22,240 new cases of ovarian cancer in the United States in 2013. The agency also predicted 14,030 deaths from the disease. Because many women don't experience symptoms until the disease is fairly advanced, this hard-to-detect cancer can be particularly devastating.

Researchers had previously linked HE4 to women with ovarian cancer, but they lacked knowledge of why it was present or what activated it. They found that a gene called WFCD2 makes a kind of messenger RNA that encodes for HE4. This gives a tumor the ability to grow quickly and a resistance to chemotherapy.

The team developed a biological drug that can halt the messenger RNA gene from making the HE4 protein. Findings published in the journal Scientific Reports indicate that in cell and animal models, the cancer grows less aggressively and shows a response to chemotherapy. Researchers indicate that the drug also has minimal side effects.

Women with high levels of HE4 tend to have relatively low survival rates, since they generally experience a poor response to treatment. The new biologic offers some of them an opportunity for individualized treatment that could lead to higher survival rates.

The next step for the Rhode Island researchers is human clinical trials. As they prepare for them, they will continue to test the new biologic drug.