Patient-Derived Organoids for Ovarian Cancer Drug Screening
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient-Derived Organoids for Ovarian Cancer Drug Screening
IRAS ID
320249
Contact name
James Armstrong
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study can improve the way we treat ovarian cancer (OC). Ovarian cancer kills over 4,000 women a year in the UK. Ovarian cancer is not easy to diagnose as its symptoms are not specific and can mimic more common conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. This means women seek medical attention later, often at the point that the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries. As a result of this, survival in ovarian cancer is poor with fewer than one third of women diagnosed with the condition alive at five years.
Doctors need to better understand what features in a cancer’s DNA could direct treatment. To do this we would need to study the DNA from a woman’s cancer to find which parts are different. At the same time, we need subject that cancer to many treatments to decide which one works best. We can then match the characteristics in the cancers DNA with which treatment worked best. However, we cannot do this to the cancer whilst it is still inside the patient as to give them so many treatments would be dangerous. One way around this is to use a model of the cancer that has been grown directly from the cancer the woman has. We call this model an organoid, which is a ball of cancer cells that have been grown from the original cancer and behaves very similarly to the original cancer. We can grow these organoids in a laboratory, check their DNA is very similar to the cancer’s DNA from which they came and then subject them to numerous chemotherapy treatments to see which one works best. This would then help us to select a chemotherapy that works best shortly after the patient is diagnosed. As we learn more about what different features in the cancer’s DNA can be used to predict which treatment works best, we could use artificial intelligence to help improve the selection of chemotherapy. This would mean that one day we would not need to grow organoids but simply use the cancer’s DNA to determine treatment. This level of personalised treatment may be the way in which we improve survival in ovarian cancer.
This study has been designed to establish the first steps towards the use of organoids to help direct ovarian cancer treatment. We will recruit women thought to have ovarian cancer and ask them if we can take a small amount of the sample that is taken to diagnose their cancer. This sample would not be in addition to their routine tests. Women will be asked for informed and written consent and can withdraw at any time. We will record the type of cancer they have, details about them, such as age and medical history, along with what treatments they have for their cancer and how well these treatments work.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EM/0255
Date of REC Opinion
22 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion