Award-winning Irish research has identified new therapeutic targets for the treatment of high-grade serous ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women, with approximately 400 women diagnosed in Ireland each year (www.ncri.ie). While there has been significant progress in the treatment of some cancers in the past decade, this has not been the case for ovarian cancer, which continues to have a low five-year survival rate of 30 per cent and just 17 per cent for stage 4 patients.
A key reason for these dismal survival rates is the late stage at which most patients are diagnosed, with over half of patients being diagnosed at stage 3 or stage 4, after the cancer has metastasised beyond the site of the primary tumour. It is estimated that cancer metastasis accounts for 90…