Making a blood/urine DNA test for ovarian cancer
Asia Jordan
Asia Jordan was awarded an IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme PhD fellowship in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research, under the supervision of Prof. Antoniette Perry at University College Cork.
Annually almost 481 cases and 297 deaths are recorded in Ireland for ovarian cancer. Ireland has one of the highest incidences and lowest 5-year survival rate at 35% for this disease. The low survival is due to the vague symptoms which are summarised by the BEAT acronym (bloating, eating difficulties, abdominal/pelvic pain and toilet changes). In addition, diagnostic techniques are not specific to early stage disease. The combination of vague symptoms and the lack of an effective screening test for early stage ovarian cancer results in the majority (70%) of cases being diagnosed at a late stage. When caught early 5-year survival is around 90%. The diagnosis pathway for ovarian cancer is also invasive, requiring transvaginal/abdominal ultrasounds.
With the aim simplify and increase the detection of early stage disease my project aims to identify changes in DNA that are specific to early stage disease. I will then develop these into a blood and/or urine test. This way we can simply diagnosis without the need for invasive measures, detect the disease earlier. If successful, my project could lay the foundations for development of this test to improve survival from this lethal disease.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Conference Presentations
EACR Liquid Biopsies Conference 2022, Bergamo, Italy. Title: “Standardisation of urine as a liquid biopsy for early detection of aggressive prostate cancer”.
VIBE (Virtual Institute of Bioinformatics & Evolution) 2022, Belfast. Title: “Meta-analysis of DNA methylation in high-grade serous ovarian cancer using publicly available datasets “.
All Ireland Chromatin consortium 2023, Dublin. Title: “Meta-analysis of DNA methylation in high-grade serous ovarian cancer using publicly available datasets “.
Choirs for Cancer 2023, Dublin. Title: “Developing a blood and/or urine test for ovarian cancer”
IACE/EACR/AACR Conference 2024, Dublin. Title: “Meta-analysis of DNA methylation in high-grade serous ovarian cancer using publicly available datasets (Poster) (Updated from the above to include blood analysis)”
Back
Start year
2021
End year
2025
Principal Investigator
Prof. Antoinette Perry
Researcher
Asia Jordan
Institution
University College Dublin
Grant Funding
IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research
Linked Breakthrough Research Priorities
Increase research investment into poor prognosis cancers and currently incurable cancers prioritising lung, oesophageal, ovarian, pancreatic, brain, liver and stomach cancers.
Improve integration of cancer research into cancer care in Ireland and increase clinical capacity by prioritising funding for projects and programmes with significant clinical engagement.
Fund research which aims to improve the effectiveness or specificity of current cancer therapies including investing in biomarkers discovery, nutrition and therapeutic delivery.