Abstract: Despite the recent advances in its management using cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy, ovarian cancer remains the most lethal gynecological malignancy. One possible treatment strategy that may improve patient outcome is the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that selectively target tumor cells expressing tumor-associated antigens, and thus offer potential benefits such as avoiding the cytotoxic side effects in normal tissue caused by traditional chemotherapeutic agents. Based on the promising results of preclinical studies, various mAb are currently being evaluated in patients with ovarian cancer. Some of them have already demonstrated favorable clinical outcomes in phase I/II studies. However, in contrast to its use for hematological malignancies and certain solid malignancies such as breast and colorectal cancer, mAb-based therapy has not been convincingly proven to be clinically effective in patients with ovarian cancer. As the preclinical results of mAb's therapeutic effects on ovarian cancer have been encouraging, further investigations are needed to establish a more effective, specific, and less toxic treatment strategy for this malignancy. ... Read more

In 1997, deCODE Genetics, Inc., a genomics biotechnology company based at Teykjavik, Iceland, proposed to the Icelandic Ministry of Health that a centralized database on health care in Iceland be established for gaining new knowledge and insight about common diseases and for serving as a model system for individualized healthcare practice in a nation. A bill was drafted and debated nationwide, primarily on bioethics and privacy grounds, and passed by the Icelandic Parliament by approximately 75% of the votes in December 1998.

The bill stipulated, among other specific instructions such as community consent, partnership with the community, consent of individuals, and ... Read more

How the fertilized egg establishes its residency in the uterus and fends off mother’s immune system remains poorly understood. Dr. Susan J. Fisher and her colleagues at University of California, San Francisco, CA reported their recent findings that shed light on one of nature’s major unsolved mysteries (Science 299:405-408, Jan. 17, 2003).

They found that on the maternal side, human uterine epithelial cells have an elevated expression of oligosaccharide ligand (6-sulfo sLe^x) for selectin and that on the fetal side, human trophoblasts expressed L-selectin. Both molecules are highly upregulated during the small window of receptivity and bind to each other avidly. ... Read more

Applying proteomic profiling tools combined with bioinformatics analyses, a research group led by Dr. Emanuel F. Petricoin, III, of the US Food and Drug Administration was able to design a test on serum samples to catch ovarian cancer at an early stage, as reported in the Feb. 16, 2002 issue of The Lancet.

Ovarian cancer, accounting for 4% of all cancers in woman, is highly curable if diagnosed early at stage I. Unfortunately, more than 80% of patients are not diagnosed until a later stage, and only 35% of these patients survive the ensuing 5-year period. The current widely used cancer ... Read more

One of the natural wonders is why a mother’s immune system does not reject her baby embryo, as it does other foreign tissues with different genotypes and antigen makeup. The embryo at its very early stage, called a blastocyst, has to implant itself into the mucous membrane lining the uterus for further development. In real life, this direct contact induces only a brief, acute, aseptic inflammatory response, indicating maternal immune tolerance to the fetal tissue. Scientists have just uncovered some clues about how this is possible, according to a recently published study (Nature Immunology 2:1018-1024, Nov. 2001).

The chain of events ... Read more

The recipient of the 2001 Lasker Clinical Research Award is Dr. Robert G. Edwards of Cambridge University, where Dr. Edwards and his long-time collaborator Dr. Patrick Steptoe developed the in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique and revolutionized the treatment of human infertility. Infertility happens in one out of six couples worldwide.

In developing the technique, Dr. Edwards had to overcome a series of major hurdles. He had to induce ovulation in women, obtain and culture eggs, mix eggs and sperms in a way to produce fertilized eggs, introduce fertilized eggs back into the uterus so that they find home and ... Read more

Darby Steadman, 38, of Severna Park, Maryland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. The cancer returned in 2007, despite her aggressive double mastectomy treatment approach at the time (Baltimore Sun, Oct. 12-17, 2008).

Darby, now considered a terminally ill patient (advanced disease status and not responding to treatments), enrolled in Dr. Leisha Emens’s cancer vaccine immunotherapy trial in the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The experimental therapy will involve first selectively killing regulatory T lymphocytes that suppress the immune system by injecting a chemoagent (cyclophosphamide). Twelve shots of a breast cancer vaccine made by Dr. Emens will follow. The vaccine, which is ... Read more

Deborah Lindner, 33, was agonizing over her options after genetic testing revealed that she carries the BRCA1 gene (BReast CAncer gene 1). Women who carry the cancer gene have a 60-90% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer and 50% risk of ovarian cancer, compared to 12% and 2%, respectively, among women of the general population. Ms. Lindner did not yet have any signs of breast cancer and double mastectomy would reduce her risk by 90%.

Breast cancer had ransacked generations of Ms. Lindner’s family. Her mother, who gave Ms. Lindner the cancer gene, is a breast cancer survivor after mastectomy and ... Read more