Detecting ovarian cancer early is a complex challenge, but one that patients say needs to be a priority.
Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers affecting women in Canada. This disease is often caught at a late stage because ovarian cancer symptoms are vague, and available tests are not always sensitive enough to detect it in its early stages. At Ovarian Cancer Canada, we are working to change this.
“Three years ago, 73% of people told us that early detection was one of the most important priorities for improving ovarian cancer outcomes,” says Ovarian Cancer Canada CEO, Tania Vrionis, referencing the organization’s Every Woman Study: Canadian Edition (2022). “Research like this hasn’t been possible before, but today, science has advanced far enough for us to invest in early detection research and know that we’ll make tangible progress for women facing this disease. Detecting ovarian cancer early is no longer a distant goal – it is a reality we are actively working towards. With this investment that our donors made possible, early detection could be within reach.”
Thanks to the generous support of our donors, the Ovarian Cancer Relief Foundation’s Dawn Ride, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Strategic Science Fund contribution to Ovarian Cancer Canada, we are investing $200,000 in two innovative research projects focused on uncovering breakthroughs that help detect ovarian cancer earlier.
A Simple Blood Test to Detect Ovarian Cancer Earlier
At Queen’s University in Ontario, senior scientist and professor, Dr. Christopher Mueller, and graduate student, Sydney Shepherd, along with Dr Josee-Lyne Ethier, a medical oncologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto), are working to change how late ovarian cancer is diagnosed with a new test – one that could detect the disease earlier and more accurately than ever before.
This innovative test is called mDETECT, a blood test that looks for changes in DNA linked to ovarian cancer. Thanks to the Ovarian Cancer Relief Foundation’s Dawn Ride and donors like you, this research is moving from the lab to the real world.
What Is Ovarian Cancer Canada Funding Making Possible?
Right now, the research team has confirmed that their blood test can correctly identify ovarian cancer in women who already have it. The next step is testing it in women who might have the disease, “we’re focusing on people who have an abnormal symptom or symptoms that could be ovarian cancer. With this blood test we want to see if we can identify ovarian cancer more effectively, so women don’t have to go six months or years waiting for a diagnosis,” says Dr. Mueller.
With our investment in their research, Dr. Mueller, Sydney and Dr. Ethier will:
- Run a clinical study at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, testing mDETECT on patients with suspected ovarian cancer.
- Compare mDETECT to current tests, like CA-125, to prove its accuracy.
- Study how well the test works in different types of ovarian cancer.
(left) Dr. Chris Mueller, PhD, and (right) graduate student, Sydney Shepherd
This study will determine how well mDETECT works in the real world, on real patients, and is the first step toward diagnosing women even earlier.
“I’ve heard repeatedly from patients that they had symptoms early on but when they went in for testing, they were told that they had a menopausal issue or just some inflammation. So, they weren’t actually diagnosed with ovarian cancer until a couple of years later,” shares Sydney. “In sharing their perspective on the work we’re doing, women have told us that they want earlier diagnosis and a minimally invasive technique like ours. Our research is important for focusing on their priorities.”
If successful, mDETECT could one day detect ovarian cancer in women with faint symptoms.
“This is the critical step – taking what we’ve discovered in the lab and testing if it can help real patients,” says Dr. Mueller. “Early detection is key. If we can find ovarian cancer sooner, treatments work better, and more lives can be saved.”
Detecting Cancer Cells in the Fallopian Tubes Before They Spread
Across the country at the University of British Columbia, gynecologic oncologist Dr. Andrea Neilson and her team are using innovations in biomedical engineering for ovarian cancer research. They are paving the way for earlier detection by combining fallopian tube lavage and imaging.
Dr. Neilson and her team have evidence that their method could detect abnormal cells that have an increased risk of becoming cancerous (known as precancerous cells) or are in the early stages of cancer in the fallopian tubes. Through this research they will work to develop a minimally invasive method that can identify these abnormal cells before they develop into advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common and aggressive type of the disease.
What Is Ovarian Cancer Canada Funding Making Possible?
The funding we provide for this research will accelerate progress in critical ways:
- Create a specialized fallopian tube imaging catheter, smaller than 1 millimeter wide, that can also flush the fallopian tube with saline, known as a lavage.
- Test the imaging catheter on fallopian tube tissue after they are removed during surgery (‘ex vivo’) to see how well it works.
- Test similar imaging catheters on fallopian tubes during surgery (‘in vivo’) to help improve the design for future medical use.
Unlike past early detection research that looked for ovarian cancer masses at later stages, this research targets the earliest signs of the disease at its source.
“This is a very ambitious project. Things like this have been studied before, but not with today’s biomedical technology, where we can shrink imaging catheters and use special fluorescence to detect these cells,” says Dr. Neilson. “In my four years of gynecologic oncology practice and another 10 years in gynecology, I’ve had five patients that I’ve ever seen with a stage one cancer…So, if we can increase the number of stage one patients we find even a little bit, we’re going to cure so many more patients.”
Dr. Andrea Neilson, MD
Made Possible by Your Support
“Women are so used to being told their health concerns aren’t anything to be worried about that we often self-silence. Why sit in a waiting room for hours just to be told that there’s nothing wrong?” says Alvina Nadeem, a woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer in stage 1, a diagnosis she believes was a “stroke of luck”. “This research is so critical. Not only will these projects help us understand this disease better and close the knowledge gap that healthcare providers have. They might be able to address the complex experiences women facing ovarian cancer have in Canada.”
Your support is driving breakthroughs in ovarian cancer research in Canada, bringing us closer to a future where the disease is caught early and more treatable. Thank you, the Ovarian Cancer Relief Foundation’s Dawn Ride, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for making this life-saving research possible. Because of you, breakthroughs start here.
Summary:
- Ovarian Cancer Canada invests in two Canadian research studies focused on the early detection of ovarian cancer.
- 73% of ovarian cancer patients believe that early detection is one of the most important priorities for improving ovarian cancer outcomes (Every Woman Study: Canadian Edition, 2022).
- Detecting ovarian cancer earlier is complex because symptoms are vague and currently available tests are not always sensitive enough to detect it in its early stages.
- At Queen’s University, Dr. Christopher Mueller and his team are studying the mDETECT blood test that looks for changes in DNA linked to ovarian cancer.
- At the University of British Columbia, Dr. Andrea Neilson and her team are using innovations in biomedical engineering, combining fallopian tube lavage and catheter imaging to analyze small amounts of genetic material.