Ovarian cancer affects over 6,600 women in the UK, and 190,000 worldwide, every year. What’s more, treating it successfully can be difficult. Women are often diagnosed after the cancer has started to spread, and ovarian tumours can be notoriously ‘drug resistant’ – chemotherapy works for a short time but then the cancer starts growing again.
So a new approach is urgently needed.
One strategy under investigation by many of the world’s cancer researchers – including teams funded by Cancer Research UK – is to develop genetically engineered viruses that only multiply inside cancer cells and kill them. Much of this research is based around tweaking a harmless cold virus called adenovirus, turning it into a cancer killer.
Disappointingly, most of the clinical trials of these viruses so far have had poor results. But there’s hope on the horizon. A new approach from Professor Len Seymour and his team, funded by Cancer Research UK, could revive the flagging hopes for virus therapy for ovarian cancer.
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