DOD and SPORE Ovarian Cancer Omics Consortium
Abstract
Scientific Objective: The DoD and SPORE Ovarian Cancer Omics Consortium (DSOCOC) is a multidisciplinary collaboration of ovarian cancer experts from across the United States. Cancer researchers and clinicians from four well-established, federally funded ovarian cancer specialized research programs are working alongside representatives from the patient advocate community to develop an unprecedented, multi-site collaboration, with the long-term goal of uncovering effective ways to screen for ovarian cancer in apparently healthy women. In the early phase of this initiative, the members of this research partnership will bring together the knowledge, experience, and research practices in place at their respective institutions in order to build the combined infrastructure required to support wide-scale collection of tissue, blood, and other biological specimens, as well as clinical, demographic, psychosocial, and risk factor data. Once established, this cooperative structure will give the researchers the materials needed to perform a broad array of studies aimed at uncovering biomarkers for ovarian cancer. They will employ cutting-edge analytical and computational techniques to examine specimens and data from both low- and high-risk healthy women and women with early and advanced stages of ovarian cancer, with the goal of uncovering biological signatures of early-stage ovarian cancer. The term “omics” refers to all of the fields of study that will be represented in this undertaking, including the well-known field of genomics, as well as lesser known areas, such as lipidomics, immunomics, proteomics, and other “omics.” Rationale: Each year in the United States, there are approximately 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer and 14,000 deaths from this disease. Although relatively rare, this disease accounts for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. When detected at an early stage, the 5-year survival is over 90%. Unlike certain other cancers, such as breast, cervical, colorectal, and skin, there are no effective ways to screen for ovarian cancer. In consequence, most ovarian cancers are detected after the cancer has advanced beyond the earlier, more treatable stages, leading to an overall 5-year survival rate of only 28%. In recent years, cancer researchers have made important discoveries about the origin of ovarian cancer, but have been less successful in translating this knowledge into effective screening tests of blood or other easily obtained samples. One of the challenges has been having enough of the right kinds of samples of this relatively rare cancer to perform the experiments needed to understand this disease and its biomarkers at a fundamental level. Through the individual efforts of the researcher teams joining forces to create the DSOCOC, a lot of groundwork has already been laid: many specimens have already been collected and stored; much has been learned about what works and what does not; and important biomarker discoveries have already been made. This consortium will enable the researchers to share each other’s experience, expertise, facilities, and research participant populations, at an unprecedented scale. A large part of the success of this effort will be dependent on effective outreach to patients and healthy women through the efforts of partner advocacy groups. Our advocate partners will provide special insight into how to engage multiple, diverse populations, including vulnerable and underserved groups. Public Health Implications: If the consortium is successful in uncovering biomarker(s) of early, preclinical ovarian cancer, this could be a substantial benefit to public health in the form of effective, population-level screening for ovarian cancer. Like other successful cancer screening practices, this would mean that more ovarian cancer cases would be diagnosed in the earliest stages, when this terrible disease is the most treatable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 16, 2019
- Source ID
- W81XWH1910183
Entities
People
- Kunle Odunsi
Organizations
- United States Army