ocrf progress brochure

“Real generosity toward the future

lies in giving all to the present.”

— Albert Camus

Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the surface of a fallopian tube, showing non-ciliated (pink) and ciliated (green) cells.

Now is the time to build on the progress that has been made.

Join us in the fi ght and help us change the future of ovarian cancer.

90% of every dollar donated directly supports our research grants.

To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit our website at

www.ocrf.org, or call us at 212-268-1002.

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“Together, we can change the future.”Dr. Ronny Drapkin and his team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) is the largest private nonprofi t organization in the United States

dedicated exclusively to funding ovarian cancer research. Founded in 1994 by Sol Schreiber to honor the

memory of his wife Ann, OCRF’s mission is to fund scientifi c research that leads to more eff ective detection,

treatment, and ultimately a cure for ovarian cancer.

Since its founding, OCRF has invested nearly $45 million in ovarian cancer research, awarding

grants to some of the best scientists at more than 60 leading academic medical institutions in the U.S.

OCRF research grants are highly competitive, and are awarded through a peer review process conducted

by OCRF’s prestigious Scientifi c Advisory Committee (SAC), comprised of the nation’s top gynecologic

oncologists and ovarian cancer researchers.

Ovarian cancer is an unusually complex disease, and scientifi c advancements require extensive

and continuing investments in laboratory research. Less burdened by the bureaucracy inherent in large

government-funded grant programs, OCRF is more nimble in its ability to fund the most novel approaches

to combating this disease. OCRF is able to solicit, review, and fund worthy applications in a relatively

short timeframe, which leads to more rapid scientifi c progress and facilitates the professional growth of

the most promising new investigators in the fi eld. Without OCRF’s support to help launch their careers,

some researchers might have turned their attention to better funded diseases.

By funding researchers just starting their careers as well as more senior investigators, OCRF eff ectively

and effi ciently enhances the breadth of research in this country directed specifi cally toward ovarian cancer.

OCRF is committed to funding the very best science in its quest to defeat this devastating disease.

2 Back to Basics: Exploring the Origins of Ovarian Cancer Not all ovarian cancer starts out in the ovaries, new research suggests. Some cases of the cancer may have roots in the nearby fallopian tubes.

4 Moving Beyond CA-125Where is ovarian cancer research on early detection methods headed next?

6 Treatment Update: ImmunotherapyResearchers are harnessing the power of the human immune system to fi ght ovarian cancer.

8 Partners in ScienceA perfect partnership: OCRF donor and scientist, changing lives through research.

10 The Next GenerationA cadre of early-career scientists is breaking new ground in ovarian cancer research.

11 Looking ForwardA conversation with Jeff Boyd, Ph.D.

12 OCRF Board and Scientifi c Advisory Committee Members

14 Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 1710New York, NY 10122

www.ocrf.org

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PROGRESS

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O VA R I A N C A N C E R T I M E L I N E

1809 Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky became the fi rst surgeon worldwide to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. The patient, Jane Todd Crawford, went on to live another 33 years.

1970sThere were few treatments for women with ovarian cancer. Diagnosis did not occur until advanced stages and the 5-year survival rate for advanced disease was 7%.

2Exploring the Origins of Ovarian Cancer

n the early 2000s, scientists trying to track down early cases of ovarian cancer were coming up empty-handed time after time. Even when they cut apart ovaries that had been removed from the most at-risk women in the country, they didn’t fi nd any early cancers.

“It left people scratching their heads for a long time,” says Dr. Ronny Drapkin, former OCRF grantee at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. But Dr. Drapkin and his colleagues had an idea as to why early ovarian tumors seemed so hard to fi nd. Maybe ovarian cancer didn’t always begin as ovarian cancer, but sometimes started in the fallopian tubes. If proven, this theory could change the way ovarian cancer is studied, detected, prevented, and treated.

Ovarian Cancer’s RootsOne of the fi rst hints that some cases of ovarian cancer might start in the fallopian tubes was the fact that under the microscope, tumor cells looked more like fallopian tube cells than ovary cells.

To test the hypothesis, Dr. Drapkin and his collaborators turned to a group of women who have mutations to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes (one of the few known genetic mutations that can lead to ovarian cancer and also increase one’s risk of breast cancer). To prevent ovarian cancer, women with one of these genetic mutations often voluntarily have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. When Dr. Drapkin’s team started dissecting the removed fallopian tubes, they found early cancers in almost fi fty percent of the samples.

Not all ovarian cancer starts out in the ovaries, new research suggests.

Some cases of the cancer may have roots in the nearby fallopian tubes.

Back to Basics I


1978 Cisplatin is FDA-approved for newly diagnosed and recurrent ovarian cancer.

1981Studies fi rst suggest that oral contraceptive use lowers the risk of developing ovarian cancer. Today, oral contraceptive use prevents 30,000 cases of ovarian cancer each year.

3

The discovery provided more evidence that some ovarian cancers are really fallopian tube cancers that have dropped from the fallopian tubes and moved to the nearby ovaries.

“Part of why progress in treating and preventing ovarian cancer has been so slow might be because we haven’t really understood the biology,” says Dr. Drapkin. With OCRF’s support, he is helping uncover that biology and speed up the process of discovery.

Pinning Down the ProofDr. Ruth Perets, an oncologist from Israel who is working in Dr. Drapkin’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow, is exploring this discovery by sorting out how frequently cancers start in the fallopian tubes and migrate to the ovaries. She’s following cancerous cells in the fallopian tubes of mice to see where they end up.

Dr. Perets, an OCRF grantee, says that if she can prove that a high percentage of ovarian cancers begin in the fallopian tubes, it could change approaches to prevention.

Women with the BRCA gene mutations often opt to have their ovaries removed in their 30s or 40s to prevent ovarian cancer. But as a result, they enter early menopause, increasing their risk of heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis. If these women could instead have only their fallopian tubes removed, they wouldn’t enter early menopause. The question Dr. Perets needs to answer is which population this would protect.

“I think in the lab is where we can fi gure this out,” says Dr. Perets, who will soon return to Israel to pursue both clinical work and research. “Getting this funding from OCRF allowed me to pursue my ideas through research,” she says.

Finding the GenesWhen scientists fi rst tried altering genes in ovarian cells to turn them cancerous, they had a hard time getting cancer that looked like typical ovarian cancer. But Dr. Drapkin’s lab is trying a new approach: turning fallopian tube cells into ovarian cancer.

His team is taking normal fallopian tube cells from patients and altering different genes to see what happens. Their goal is to fi ne-tune the combination of genes that make fallopian tube cells most resemble ovarian cancer cells. Then, the researchers can eventually use the cells to test drugs, tracking what compounds block the cancer’s growth.

The research by the Drapkin lab is attempting to answer one of the most basic unknowns about ovarian cancer: how and where does it start? “It’s a fundamental question,” says Dr. Drapkin. “It has broad implications for every aspect of patient care, including prevention, early detection, and treatment, and the answer may make a difference in the lives of many, many women.”

Ronny Drapkin(Dana-Farber)

Ruth Perets(Dana-Farber)

In 2010, Maureen Sirull was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer. Today, after a chemotherapy regimen and participation in a clinical trial, she’s in remission. She’s also become an outspoken advocate for ovarian cancer research and awareness. “The research devoted to this cancer is phenomenal,” says Sirull. “But we need more. This is what’s going to save lives. It’s what saved my life.”

An Inspired Patient


Mid-1980s Future OCRF Scientifi c Advisory Committee member Dr. Robert Bast and colleagues discover CA-125, the fi rst clinically useful marker to monitor ovarian cancer.

1989FDA approves carboplatin for treatment of ovarian cancer. With fewer side eff ects than cisplatin, carboplatin becomes the preferred initial chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

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research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. “Those numbers make a compelling case for early detection.”

Patients rarely notice the symptoms of ovarian cancer until it has spread to other organs. The bloating, pelvic pain, and indigestion that accompany the cancer are often attributed to more common diseases.

“Our goal is to develop a simple blood test that could be done with a fi nger prick each year and that would identify women who need further testing for ovarian cancer with ultrasound,” said Dr. Bast.

f there’s one goal that’s shared by all ovarian cancer researchers, it’s to save lives. For some scientists, that goal takes the form of developing treatments for ovarian cancer to prevent it from occurring, spreading, or recurring. And for others, savings lives means trying to detect ovarian cancer earlier.

“When ovarian cancer is detected before it spreads, up to 90% of women can be cured with currently available surgery and chemotherapy,” said Dr. Robert Bast, vice president for translational

Where is ovarian cancer research on early detection methods headed next?

Moving Beyond CA-125

I


1992Chemotherapy drug paclitaxel is introduced into the market and shows promising results in patients with ovarian cancer.

1994 Sol Schreiber founds the Ann Schreiber Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (later renamed Ovarian Cancer Research Fund) in memory of his wife.

5

Recent studies in the United Kingdom and in the United States suggest that this may be possible.

Screening Test ChallengesIn 1983, Dr. Bast and his colleagues developed a blood test for a protein called CA-125. The protein is produced by 80% of ovarian cancers, and track-ing its levels can tell doctors when these tumors are growing or shrinking. CA-125 levels can also increase in blood before ovarian cancers have spread outside the pelvis, but a single test with CA-125 detects only about half of these early cases, and false positive tests can also occur.

Doctors are now looking for new and better ways to use CA-125 to achieve more accurate results. Monitoring CA-125 every year can establish each woman’s personal baseline. Increases in CA-125 can then be used to select women for an ultrasound test, dramatically reducing false positives and detecting a larger fraction of women with early stage disease. A 4,000-woman trial coordinated by M.D. Anderson has found that this strategy gives an acceptable level of false positive tests and can detect early stage ovarian cancers. An ongoing 200,000-woman trial in the United Kingdom is large enough to determine whether CA-125 followed by ultrasound will save lives or at least improve survival. Results will become available over the next three or four years.

“What we’re seeing in terms of diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer is that there are great signs of progress,” said Dr. Gary Leiserowitz, an OCRF grantee. “But at the same time we’re becoming more humble about this problem as we realize how diffi cult it is.”

Pursuing a Better TestWhile research with CA-125 continues, investiga-tors are also exploring other ways to tackle the problem of early detection. Dr. Leiserowitz, chief of gynecologic oncology at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, studies carbohydrates called glycans, which are found on the surfaces of proteins. His team discovered that the pattern of glycans detected in blood is signifi cantly different between ovarian cancer patients and healthy women. Now, he’s developing a test to detect these abnormal patterns. These abnormal glycans, he hopes, will provide a more sensitive and specifi c test than proteins alone.

At the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Ronald Buckanovich, an OCRF grantee, researches cancer stem cells (very primitive cells from which many cancers are likely to originate). If a woman in remission from ovarian cancer has even 11 of these cancer stem cells remaining after treatment, her cancer can regrow from those few cells, he’s found. Most recently, Dr. Buckanovich has discovered specifi c glycoproteins unique to those stem cells. He thinks a test that could detect these molecules in the blood stream could offer a new avenue for screening.

In the process of working toward saving lives through attempts to develop early detection screening, these researchers are making discoveries about how ovarian cancer grows and spreads. The work of OCRF grantees, whether or not it ultimately leads to a new screening test, can still save lives by revealing new directions for treatments or prevention methods.

Robert Bast(MD Anderson)

Gary Leiserowitz(UC Davis)

Ronald Buckanovich(U of Michigan)


1996 Topotecan is FDA-approved to treat advanced ovarian cancer after other treatments have failed.

Late 1990s Researchers discover that mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes raise a woman’s ovarian cancer risk by as much as 80%.

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very day, the human body destroys viruses and bacteria that threaten health. Proteins associated with these invading molecules are recognized as foreign and fl agged as enemies. But the human immune system, the frontline defense against invaders, isn’t as good at fi ghting cancer.

Throughout the U.S., OCRF researchers are working tirelessly to develop a whole new class of drugs—immunotherapies—that boost the human immune system to treat ovarian cancer.

Know Your EnemyA critical fi rst step is to help the cancer-fi ghting immune cells recognize cancer cells as enemies. “The immune system isn’t supposed to attack cells that belong to your own body,” explains Dr. Kunle

Odunsi of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, an OCRF grantee. “And unfortunately, to the

immune system, most cancer cells look too much like all other cells in your body.”

By studying the interaction between cells, Dr. Odunsi is learning how to make immune cells in patients consider

the cancer cells invaders. He’s developed a vaccine that stimulates the immune

system’s response against certain proteins in the cancer, much like the fl u vaccine teaches the body to fi ght off the fl u. So far, he’s tested it in women who are in remission from ovarian cancer and at high risk of recurrence, and his results are promising. “We realized that the best time to help ovarian cancer patients, if we can’t prevent their cancer to begin with, is to develop a vaccine to prevent recurrence,” says Dr. Odunsi.

Amassing the TroopsIn addition to helping the body identify and fi ght the cancer, researchers hope to boost the body’s natural, cancer-fi ghting immune response—making a small army of immune cells bigger and stronger. At the University of Pennsylvania, OCRF grantee Dr. George Coukos was the fi rst to show that ovarian cancer patients with more immune cells infi ltrating their tumors survived longer than those with less tumor-infi ltrating immune cells. This suggested that the immune system was already capable of helping the body fi ght ovarian tumors. The challenge now is to increase that tumor-specifi c immune response, and to do it in all patients.

To that end, Dr. Coukos has developed a personalized ovarian cancer vaccine. He exposed immune cells to a mix of proteins from a patient’s own tumor, coaxing the immune system to kill the

Researchers are harnessing the

power of the human immune system

to fi ght ovarian cancer.

Treatment UpdateImmunotherapy

“The immunthat belong t

Odunsi oOCR

i

t

White blood cell

Kunle Odunsi(Roswell Park)

George Coukos(U of Penn)

Jonathan Berek(Stanford)

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Late 1990sOCRF forms a Scientifi c Advisory Committee, and awards its fi rst research grants, totaling $300,000.

1999 FDA approves doxorubicin, which has fewer side eff ects, to treat advanced ovarian cancer. Patients now have a growing number of chemotherapy options to choose from.

7tumor cells. So far, eight ovarian cancer patients have been treated with the experimental vaccine, which is now being tested in clinical trials.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that ovarian cancer cells produce substances that block the immune system. “Cancers actually create a physical barrier of blood vessels that prevent immune cells from getting into the tumor,” explains Dr. Coukos. Researchers hope that drugs which stop blood vessel growth could help make tumors more responsive to immune therapies.

Beyond their potential cancer-fi ghting power, immunotherapies offer additional benefi ts to patients in the form of better quality of life. Stanford University’s Dr. Jonathan Berek, an OCRF grantee, says that “the wonderful thing about these therapies is that they are typically much less toxic and have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapies.” As this fi eld of research continues to grow, patients have much to be optimistic about. Powerful new cancer-fi ghting drugs with fewer side effects represent a major advance in the ongoing battle against ovarian cancer.

Diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer at 44 and in remission after surgery and chemotherapy,

Christine Sable didn’t like constantly worrying about recurrence. So, when she learned that she matched the type of patient in remission that Dr. Odunsi’s team was looking for, she joined the immunotherapy clinical trial. “I knew that a clinical trial wouldn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t recur,” says Sable, “but I felt good about helping advance

medicine.” Sable has been in remission for 8 years. Whether or

not it’s due to immunotherapy is hard to say, but Dr. Odunsi’s results do suggest that the treatment can extend remission. “You often feel very powerless against cancer,” says Sable. “This was a way to make myself feel that I was doing something positive, both for me and for other women, to help eradicate this terrible disease.”

Christine Sable


2003President George W. Bush declares September to be Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

2004OCRF creates the fi rst-ever national television, radio, and print Public Service Announcements about ovarian cancer.

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Bronwen Smith with her mother

Motivated to Make a Diff erenceWhen Bronwen Smith was ten years old, she lost her mother to ovarian cancer. Twelve years later, while attending an event in New York City, Smith learned about OCRF and saw the opportunity to help save other women from the same fate. Over the past decade, Smith and her family have contributed more than a million dollars to OCRF and established a research fund in her mother’s name. Moreover, Smith has become an integral part of OCRF’s leadership, originally as a founding member of the junior board and, most recently, as a full board member.

“It means so much to my family to be able to contribute to OCRF in memory of my mother,” she says. “It makes us so happy to know that we’re making a difference in the lives of other women.”

Smith hasn’t just contributed to OCRF fi nancially; she’s become an outspoken advocate for ovarian cancer research. Medical research, she’s discovered, is key to fi nding new ways to detect and treat

ovarian cancer, and she wants others to understand this as well.

“OCRF is really at the cutting edge of research,” says Smith. “It’s the only organization I know of that’s solely dedicated to fi nding out how this disease works and how to stop it.”

The Kathryn Sladek Smith Fund—named after Smith’s mother—specifi cally funds research

Partners in Science This OCRF program allows donors to personally select and sponsor scientists

vetted by the OCRF Scientifi c Advisory Committee. Our grantees are top researchers

across the country conducting cutting-edge ovarian cancer research. Donors can

focus on a specifi c institution, research topic, or geographical area, and the selection

allows the donor to be connected directly with the researcher, through one-on-one

communication, as well as through receipt of all reports and journal articles

generated by the grantee.

Bronwen Smith today


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2005 National Cancer Institute launches The Cancer Genome Atlas project, with the goal of mapping the genome of ovarian cancer to identify new genetic targets for future treatments.

2006Researchers fi nd that some ovarian cancers begin in the fallopian tubes, which poses new challenges for screening.

9

Changing Lives with Research“If you don’t know the blueprint and wiring for something, it’s hard to go about fi xing it,” says Dr. Andrew Berchuck, recipient of the OCRF grant sponsored by the Smith family. Dr. Berchuck wants to determine the genetic underpinnings of ovarian cancer. Understanding what inherited genetic changes increase a woman’s odds of developing ovarian cancer can help him and other scientists develop new approaches to screening and treatment.

Receiving funding from the Smith family through OCRF has allowed Dr. Berchuck to lead an interna-tional consortium of forty research groups dedicated to the genetics of ovarian cancer. This consortium meets twice a year and is uncovering the previously unknown rich array of gene variants that affect susceptibility to ovarian cancer. Dr. Berchuck’s own group has collected thousands of blood DNA samples from women with ovarian cancer and unaffected women. Comparing these samples will enable them—they hope—to determine what makes the two sets of women different.

“We are appreciative of the funding from OCRF as there’s so much work to do,” says Dr. Berchuck. “We’re in an era of rapidly expanding knowledge about some of the basic biology of ovarian cancer, so it’s really timely to have the resources to translate this knowledge into clinical applications that will help people.”

that’s aimed at understanding the genetics of ovarian cancer and using that knowledge to develop early detection methods.

“We can direct our funds toward any area of study that we want, and that’s really important to my father,” Smith says. “Contributing to studies that investigate what makes people susceptible to the disease holds special meaning to my dad because he has daughters who could be at risk.”

Currently, the Kathryn Sladek Smith Fund supports the research of Dr. Andrew Berchuck, who heads an international consortium devoted to the genetics of ovarian cancer. Berchuck is the director of gynecologic oncology at Duke University, Smith’s alma mater. “We are able to follow his research,” says Smith. “It’s very gratifying to know exactly what our money is going toward and how we’re making a difference.”

Smith hopes that as she shares with others her passion for OCRF and its mission, as well as her desire to contribute both time and money, they will feel compelled to do the same.

“There isn’t enough funding going to the cause right now,” says Smith. “Other cancers have become much more popular celebrity causes, and there’s not that level of awareness about ovarian cancer yet, though it’s defi nitely on the rise.”

A decade ago, Smith didn’t know that research focused exclusively on ovarian cancer even existed, or that there was an organization devoted to funding such research. Since becoming involved in OCRF, Smith’s life has changed for the better.

“For me, this is one of the most important aspects of my life outside of my family, friends and job,” says Smith. “OCRF is a positive infl uence in my life every day.”

Andrew Berchuck, Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Duke University, leads the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC).

B E C O M E A P A R T N E R I N S C I E N C E

To learn more about becoming an OCRF Partner in Science, or about specifi c naming opportunities, please contact Jon Zeidman, Director of Development, at 212-268-1002 or [email protected].


2006Researchers report that adding intraperitoneal chemotherapy — which is delivered directly into the abdomen — to IV chemotherapy after surgery extends survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Late 2000s Ovarian cancer is recognized not just as one disease, but many diseases, paving the way for research into new, more personalized approaches to ovarian cancer treatment.

10

he fi rst grant a researcher receives often determines not just the direction of his initial experiments, but the course of his future career. One project leads to another, and each fi nding leads to new questions. By funding the brightest young scientifi c minds throughout the country, OCRF is encouraging these talented professionals to focus their careers on ovarian cancer research. In turn, they are asking cutting-edge questions about ovarian cancer and making exciting discoveries which will lead to tomorrow’s breakthroughs.

From Clinician to ScientistDr. Xiaoping He was a medical doctor in China. But as she watched her patients die from cancer, she began to wonder what she could do to make a bigger difference. She decided to obtain her Ph.D. and focus on cancer research. Now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, she’s utilizing an OCRF grant, her fi rst research grant in the U.S., to uncover what makes some ovarian cancer patients respond to chemotherapy better than others.

“With my funding from OCRF, I was able

to determine one way that ovarian cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy,” says Dr. He. She’s building on those fi ndings to develop ovarian cancer treatments that will kill tumor cells more effectively.

Breaking Down Cancer BarriersGregory Motz, an OCRF grantee at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ovarian Cancer Research Center, is probing how the immune system interacts with ovarian tumors—and how drugs can advance this process.

“The human immune system often launches a natural immune response against cancer cells,” says Dr. Motz. “I want to know how we can boost that.”

Although the immune system produces T cells capable of fi ghting off cancer, ovarian cancers often put up barriers to block these cells. Dr. Motz wants to take T cells the body already makes against ovarian cancer, isolate them from a patient, concentrate them, and put them back in the body in a stronger formulation. At the same time, he can treat the cancer patient with drugs that break down cancer’s barriers to T cells.

G R A N T I N G A L E G A C Y

Dineo Khabele (1999 OCRF grantee) is an associate professor of gynecologic oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “My OCRF grant was critical in those early days, launching my interest in becoming not just a physician and surgeon, but a scientist, and enabling me to immerse myself in the lab. I continue focusing on genetic mutations and ovarian cancer.”

Molly Brewer (1998 OCRF grantee) is now an associate professor of gynecologic oncology at the University of Connecticut Health Center. “OCRF funding really started my research career. Without this fi rst grant, I would never be doing what I am today: research focusing on new ways of using imaging techniques for ovarian cancer.”

A cadre of early-career scientists is breaking new ground in ovarian cancer research.

The Next Generation

T


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2009 Preventive surgery is shown to reduce breast and ovarian cancer risk in women with BRCA gene mutations.

2010A large study shows that using bevacizumab as both a front-line and maintenance therapy signifi cantly slows the spread of ovarian cancer.

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“This grant has been crucial in providing me with the autonomy I needed in my research,” Dr. Motz says, “and it will lead to even bigger discoveries down the road.”

Gaining Confi dence and Opening DoorsTo grow and spread, ovarian cancer tumor cells have to duplicate and move. So what if scientists could block these cells’ built-in program that allows them to replicate and migrate? That’s the goal of Dr. Thuy-Vy Do, a postdoctoral researcher at Fox Chase Cancer Center and OCRF grantee.

Dr. Do is studying a protein, Aurora A kinase, that cells need in order to copy themselves and migrate. Blocking Aurora A kinase, Dr. Do thinks, can stop cancers from spreading, and allow certain drugs to work better. With the help of her OCRF grant, she’s completed her fi rst preclinical study, showing that a combination of a drug that blocks Aurora A kinase with the cancer drug paclitaxel works better than either drug alone. The drug combination is now in clinical trials with ovarian cancer patients.

“OCRF has helped me tremendously,” she says. “This grant has given me hope, and confi dence that this work is important and worth pursuing. It really allowed me to move the research forward.”

Thuy-Vy Do2008 grantee (Fox Chase)

Xiaoping He2008 grantee (Mayo Clinic)

Gregory Motz2008 grantee(U of Penn)

Ilana Cass (1998 OCRF grantee) is an associate professor and vice chair of obstetrics & gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “My OCRF grant was pivotal. It helped launch my research career, and enhanced my understanding of important genetic distinctions in hereditary gynecologic cancers—the foundation for my subsequent research.”

Looking Forward

Jeff Boyd, Ph.D.,Chair, OCRF Scientifi c Advisory Committee

A Conversation with Jeff Boyd

In any area of science, progress is incremental. At times, signifi cant fi ndings seem to come slowly. Then suddenly the tides turn. Scientists build on each other’s work and discoveries come together that lead to more rapid advances. Today, in ovarian cancer

research, we’re on the cusp of this rush of discovery.More blood-based markers are being discovered

that could provide methods to detect ovarian cancer earlier. And research on how, why and where ovarian cancer originates, grows and spreads is yielding new ways to stop early cancer from advancing. Some researchers are discovering how to boost the body’s powerful human immune system to fi ght ovarian cancer. Others are identifying new targeted drug therapies. On all these fronts, the pace of progress is accelerating.

Now is a crucial time to support ovarian cancer research and its many dedicated investigators. They need the resources to break new ground and change the future of ovarian cancer.

When a scientist receives a grant from OCRF, more is gained than funding to perform experiments. Validation that the work is worth pursuing, as well as a support network for inspiration and collaboration, are also major benefi ts.

Grants for young researchers are especially vital. If scientists or clinicians become interested in ovarian cancer early in their careers, they are more likely to make career commitments, which strengthen the foundation of researchers devoted to the fi eld.

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund is a major force in the fi ght against this terrible disease. No other private organization is driving such signifi cant progress against ovarian cancer. The next breakthrough may be one that saves countless lives.


Late 2000s The 5-year survival rate for advanced ovarian cancer is now 40%.

TodayOCRF has awarded nearly $45 million for ovarian cancer research to institutions across the United States, making it the largest nonprofi t dedicated exclusively to funding ovarian cancer research.

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Executive Committee

John W. Hansbury, Esq.Co-President

Sherry JacobsonCo-President

Sol Schreiber, Esq.Founder and Chair

Carmel J. Cohen, M.D.Scientifi c Chair

Edward Labaton, Esq.Secretary

Jacqueline BiancoTreasurer

Mindy GrayDirector

Donna B. NadlerDirector

Susan YossDirector

Board Members

Susan D. BazaarAnthony BroyJeannette ChangBrooke Goodman CohenRaynor DahlquistSheila DuffyAndrew FeuersteinStephanie Ercegovic FosterSusie FragnoliCarol J. HamiltonCindy Harrell-HornBeth Y. Karlan, M.D.Wendy KirshenbaumTom LiebmanDana L. Mark, Esq.Ylain MayerMara SandlerBronwen SmithMelissa Gellman WeissRobin Zarel

Audra MoranChief Executive Offi cer

Scientifi c Advisory Committee

Jeff Boyd, Ph.D., ChairFox Chase Cancer Center

Carmel J. Cohen, M.D., Vice-ChairMount Sinai Medical Center

Robert C. Bast, Jr., M.D.M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Andrew Berchuck, M.D. Duke University

Jonathan S. Berek, M.D., M.M.S.Stanford University

Molly Brewer, D.V.M., M.D., M.S.University of Connecticut Health Center

George Coukos, M.D., Ph.D.University of Pennsylvania

Ronny I. Drapkin, M.D., Ph.D.Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Douglas A. Levine, M.D.Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Sandra Orsulic, Ph.D.Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Stephen C. Rubin, M.D.University of Pennsylvania

Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D.Florida International University

Michael V. Seiden, M.D., Ph.D.Fox Chase Cancer Center

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

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This publication was funded, in part, by an unrestricted grant from Morphotek, Inc.

83300_TEXT_070612.indd 1283300_TEXT_070612.indd 12 7/9/12 7:39 AM7/9/12 7:39 AM

“Together, we can change the future.”Dr. Ronny Drapkin and his team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute







“Real generosity toward the future

lies in giving all to the present.”

— Albert Camus







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