September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

join with the aacr to find better ways to prevent and treat ovarian cancer

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

Ovarian cancer includes malignancies of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the primary peritoneum (which lines the abdominal wall and covers the abdominal organs). This group is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States.

Ovarian cancer may not cause early signs or symptoms, and screening is difficult, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Therefore, these cancers often go undetected until they’ve reached advanced stages.

Because ovarian cancer often goes untreated until the disease has advanced, the survival rate is low. The five-year relative survival rate is 50.9 percent.

About 1.3 percent of women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer at some point in their lifetimes, according the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Approximately 19,680 women in the United States will receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2024, according to SEER estimates. Furthermore, approximately women 12,740 will die from the disease.

Three types of ovarian cancer occur:

  • Ovarian epithelial cancer begins in the tissue covering the ovary, lining the fallopian tube, or the peritoneum.
  • Ovarian germ cell tumors start in the egg or germ cells.
  • Ovarian low malignant potential tumors begin in the tissue covering the ovary. Abnormal cells are present that may become cancer, but usually do not. 

Family history and inherited gene mutations such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 are among the risk factors for ovarian cancer. Others include the use of fertility drugs and estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy.

One Woman’s Story

Jackie VanRaaphorst of Snoqualmie, Washington, received “every possible treatment” for her ovarian cancer, only to have the cancer come back. When the FDA approved a new drug, Elahere, in 2022, she “jumped through many hoops” to get it. She says she has seen “remarkable” progress.  Read her story in the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2023.

The Latest on Ovarian Cancer

  • AACR’s Cancer Today magazine reports on a study that suggests heated chemotherapy delivered to the abdominal cavity extends survival in advanced ovarian cancer.
  • New treatments for ovarian cancer aim to lengthen remissions and push back recurrences, according to an article in Cancer Today.

WHAT THE AACR IS DOING IN OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH

Sponsoring Scientific Meetings

  • On September 20-21, 2024, the Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer and the AACR are presenting the Fifth Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium in Seattle, Washington. Researchers and clinicians from around the world will hear the latest developments in therapeutics, immune-oncology, tumor microenvironment, early detection, prevention, and more.
  • In October 2023, the AACR presented its sixth biennial special conference on ovarian cancer in Boston, Massachusetts. The AACR’s blog, Cancer Research Catalyst, published an interview with two of the co-chairs of this conference to discuss the highlights.

Supporting Research Grants

The AACR has recently awarded research grants to investigators pursuing promising research in ovarian and related cancers. 

  • In 2023, a Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR, went to Sarah E. Johnstone, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The award supports her study of “The impact of architectural protein disruption on the 3D cancer genome” in ovarian cancer.
  • Also in 2023, Mary Mullen, MD, Washington University in St. Louis, received a Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR. Her topic is “Targeting platinum chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer.”
  • The AACR and AstraZeneca awarded an Ovarian Cancer Research Fellowship to Ksenija Nesic, PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in 2022. Her study is “CRISPR screens to find novel targets to overcome PARP inhibitor resistance.”
  • Anna Salvioni, PharmD, PhD, Toulouse University Institute of Cancer-Oncopole, received a 2022 AACR-AstraZeneca Ovarian Cancer Research Fellowship for research on “HRD effect on T-cell exhaustion in ovarian cancer.”
  • The 2022 AACR-Bristol Myers Squibb Immuno-oncology Research Fellowship was awarded to Sung-Min Hwang, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine. Her study is “Decoding ER stress signaling in ovarian cancer-reactive T cells.”
  • Martina McDermott, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, received a 2022 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in Partnership with Pelotonia & AACR. She is researching “Preclinical development of a novel anti-CLDN16 ADC for ovarian cancer.”
  • The 2022 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in Partnership with Pelotonia & AACR, went to Shuang Zhang, PhD, The Third Affiliated Hospital at Guangzhou Medical University. Her project is “Identification of epithelial stem cell markers in fallopian tube and HGSC.”

for more information

Please see our page on ovarian cancer for information on prevention, screening and treatment.