Proposal for therapeutic developments in Ovarian Cancer and Granulosa Cell Tumours

 

Ovarian cancer is a common cancer affecting a significant number of women. It has a very poor outlook, and most women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will not survive for five years following detection. Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat, mainly because most women are diagnosed with late stage cancer. For many years, there has been little progress in treatments for this cancer.

 

Dr. Andrew Shelling (Associate Professor, Auckland University) spent three years at the University of Oxford studying ovarian cancer, and his group has spent the last 10 years developing skills and resources in Auckland studying molecular changes that have occurred in ovarian cancers. Dr Shelling has been involved in studies to identify molecules that are involved in early stage cancer, so that cancer can be detected earlier, and patient-specific treatment can begin, and if detected early, this treatment can occur at an earlier stage.

 

His research to date has identified that one molecular pathway is particularly important in the early development of ovarian cancer. This pathway is called the Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGFb), and all ovarian tumours that have been investigated by Dr Shelling show a defect in this pathway at some point. This means that it may be possible to detect cancer early, and then target treatments to specific points in this pathway.

 

While all ovarian cancer tumours show defects in the TGFb pathway, granulosa cell tumours show specific unique variations in this pathway, often involving the inhibin and activin genes. Dr Shelling is proposing to design specific therapies that directly inactivate molecules within this pathway, to determine whether they reverse the abnormal growth seen in these granulosa cell tumours. These specific therapies are called small interfering RNA’s (siRNA’s), which are designed to reduce the activity of defective molecules, and are widely considered as being one of the new exciting frontiers of cancer research and therapy.

 

The research project would attempt to determine whether use of these new therapies could reverse the unlimited growth of granulosa cell tumour cell lines that Dr Shelling has already studied in his laboratory. Dr Shelling is requesting funding for a research technician ($40,000 per year) with working expenses ($30,000 per year) for two years (total amount is $140,000). It is likely that the results of this study would lead to new targets for future drug design.

 

About Dr. Andrew Shelling:

 

Dr. Shelling completed a PhD on the development of viral vectors for use in gene therapy at the University of Otago in 1992.

 

That same year he received the prestigious Nuffield Medical Fellowship to study the genetics of ovarian cancer at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford, for three years.

 

In 1995 Dr. Shelling returned to New Zealand to take up his current post at the University's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; he is currently Deputy Head of Department.

University of Auckland