Started in 1998 by three young sisters in honor of their mother who had recently succumbed to ovarian cancer, the Lynne Cohen Foundation is dedicated to providing start-up funding for research that shows signs of increasing the survival rate for women with the disease. Secondly, a new test designed to detect hidden ovarian cancer in patients finishing treatment for the disease is now set to undergo a major nationwide NIH-funded trial, after the Foundation provided funding for the early research. Cancer-killing nose drops may sound like science fiction, but this experimental treatment has already shown highly promising results for a team of USC scientists led by Parkash Gill, in treatment of another form of cancer. This success prompted the new study looking at IM862s efficacy in treating ovarian carcinoma. Ovarian cancer is much less common than other gynecological cancers, yet it remains very deadly, proving fatal for around 15,000 women each year.
Many women successfully battle the tumor initially, only to have the disease return.
Part of the problem is the lack of a sensitive test, or assay, that will pick up the few rogue tumor cells that may remain and proliferate after therapy. To catch such cancer cells, doctors currently use a second-look surgery, in which surgeons take biopsies and wash fluids through the abdomen to detect the presence of cancer. Though this procedure is considered the most sensitive available, it often fails to find residual disease. Nearly half of patients who show no sign of disease with the second look go on to develop subsequent tumors.