Wistar Institute Researchers Discover New Combination Therapy Approach for Metastatic Ovarian Cancer

Zhang Lab Demonstrates Novel Combination of Beta Glucan and Interferon Gamma Results in Tumor Regression

Excerpt from the Press Release:

PHILADELPHIA — (November 21, 2024) — The Wistar Institute’s Nan Zhang, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center’s Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, and lab have discovered a new approach to treating ovarian cancer that, in preclinical laboratory testing, shrinks tumors and improves survival rates while simultaneously making tumors more receptive to chemotherapy treatment. Their findings were published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine in the paper, “Myeloid activation clears ascites and reveals IL27-dependent regression of metastatic ovarian cancer.”

“This is the first time researchers have been able to indirectly target ovarian cancer cells in peritoneal fluid by inducing an immune reaction, in preclinical models,” said Zhang. “We look forward to taking this research further — particularly our findings on the role of IL27 — so we can continue to identify other strategies to improve this new anti-ovarian-cancer approach.”

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological cancer; patients with metastatic ovarian cancer have a 30% chance of surviving for five years after their diagnosis. The danger of metastasis (when cancer spreads throughout the body) is exacerbated in ovarian cancer for two main reasons:

1. Ovarian cancer is naturally resistant to chemotherapy, so its presence anywhere is difficult to combat.
   
2. Ovarian cancer tends to metastasize through peritoneal fluid into the peritoneal cavity that’s the larger space in the body that houses the stomach and intestines. Cancer in the peritoneal cavity is especially dangerous because the area is naturally immunosuppressive and limits the body’s response to any tumors.

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