The idea
This project will provide information related to tumour characters that will boost our understanding of this disease – leading to the potential for new effective drugs for low grade serous ovarian cancer patients.
Project background
Low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) is a distinct subtype of ovarian cancer characterised by slow growth and relative resistance to conventional chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs). Due to the limited success of these treatments innovative therapies are needed.
Immunotherapies, which activate the immune system to improve its response when attacking cancer cells, have become standard therapy for many cancer types - enabling prolonged effects including prevention of recurrence and metastasis.
Unfortunately, serous ovarian cancer responds poorly to the current standard immunotherapies due to the inactivation of the immune system, a resistance to immunotherapy and a difficulty in delivering drugs to the tumour sites. This means that there is still huge room for improvement in immunotherapy for low grade serous ovarian cancer.
Project plan
During previous research the team made a promising immunotherapy protein called interleukin-12 (IL-12) that is known to successfully activate anti-tumour immune cells against several cancers.
This new project will explore whether the newly developed tumour-specific bioengineered immunotherapy (CBD-IL-12) can become a breakthrough for low grade serous ovarian cancer. Taking us one step closer to an immunotherapy option that offers long-term effects and low side effects, with the potential to translate to a clinical setting for LGSOC patients in the future.
Fact file
Researcher: Jun Ishihara, PhD
Institution: Imperial College London
Project dates: April 2025 to March 2028
Funding awarded: £124,954
Project status: in progress
