Using an immune-based strategy to target Ovarian Cancer

Jamie Casey

Jamie Casey was awarded an IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme Scholarship in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research. He is working as a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Marion Butler at Maynooth University.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy. Ovarian cancer is typically diagnosed at a late stage, with 80% presenting at an advanced stage, as patients usually present with non-specific symptoms such as bloating and tiredness, which makes early diagnosis difficult. Most patients undergo surgery and chemotherapy. For 70% of patients, the cancer returns, and the patient receives chemotherapy again. Eventually, the chemotherapy stops killing the cancer cells and this is called ‘drug resistance.’ These patients then face treatment with other drugs which have proven less successful in the clinic.

A type of immunotherapy called Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) heightens the activity of key immune cells so that they become more effective at killing cancer cells. Clinical trials with ICIs are ongoing for different cancer types including Ovarian cancer. We plan to test a novel drug combination that relies on the use of an ICI together with other drugs to find out if this reduces the growth of ovarian cancer cells. We also plan to examine how this drug combination impacts the activity of immune cells by taking blood samples from healthy donors and Ovarian cancer patients.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Conference Presentations

Title “Investigating the Role of IRAK1 in Ovarian Cancer” presented at:

Immunology Society Ireland (ISI) Conference 2022, Maynooth, Ireland.

Irish Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ISGO) 2022, Galway, Ireland.

EACR Conference 2023, Torino, Italy.

Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) Conference 2023, Athlone, Ireland.