Ovarian cancer patients frequently develop resistance to standard chemotherapy. Finding new drugs to kill chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells is a critical need to improve survival outcomes. To address this, the laboratories of Dr. Mark Nachtigal and Dr. Frank Schweizer have discovered a type of experimental drug called a glycosylated antitumour ether lipid (GAEL) that can kill chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells. In addition, when tested in mice, the drug was well-tolerated and was able to prevent ovarian cancer under some conditions.

This project seeks to understand how a representative GAEL called L-Rham kills ovarian cancer cells. The team – led by Dr. Schweizer who invented L-Rham – will first produce a large amount of L-Rham since it cannot be purchased from a drug supply company. They will then test the effectiveness of this drug in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, made by taking ovarian cancer cells donated from patients and growing them in mice. The team anticipates that L-Rham will prevent some of these cancers from developing and will prevent ascites formation in all cases.

This work is an important step in bringing these drugs closer to clinical trials in people. The team’s long-term goal is to see if GAELs may be a new class of drugs available for ovarian cancer patients that will help reduce the burden of cancer and improve their overall survival.