Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian Cancer: Fast Facts

• Ovarian cancer begins in the ovaries. These small, almond-shaped female reproductive organs are located on both sides of the uterus, store eggs, and make most of the female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone.
• Ovarian tumors most commonly occur in the cells on the surface of the ovaries, known as epithelial carcinoma. Ovarian cancer that begins in the egg-forming cells (germ-cell tumors) or in the ovaries’ connective tissue (stromal tumors) is more rare.
• Ovarian cancer was historically called a “silent killer” because it was once thought that symptoms would not become visible until the disease was difficult to treat. However, recent studies have shown that a set of symptoms—including bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary urgency or frequency—are much more likely to occur in women with ovarian cancer than women in the general population.

Learn more about ovarian-cancer symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options through the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Ovarian Cancer: Some of Our Key Research

Some of the Hutchinson Center’s ovarian-cancer research occurs through its leadership of the Pacific Ovarian Cancer Consortium, a community-based, multidisciplinary research program that involves clinicians, laboratory scientists and public-health scientists from eight research and medical institutions in the region. This National Cancer Institute-funded effort includes screening and clinical trials for women who have—or are at a high risk of developing—ovarian cancer. Research also focuses on creating new treatment options for women with advanced ovarian cancer. Learn more about the Pacific Ovarian Cancer Consortium’s work. » 

Improving ovarian-cancer testing and detection

• Dr. Barbara Goff and colleagues have found that a simple survey may provide doctors with a rapid, cost-effective screening tool to detect early stages of ovarian cancer. The screening symptoms include any complaint of pelvic or abdominal pain, increased abdominal size or bloating, or difficulty eating or feeling full quickly that is present more than 12 days per month and of recent onset, occurring within the past year. Learn more about the ovarian-cancer symptom survey. »

• Dr. M. Robyn Andersen and colleagues found that combining women's reports of persistent, recent-onset symptoms linked to ovarian cancer—abdominal or pelvic pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and abdominal bloating—with a standard blood test may improve the early detection of ovarian cancer by 20 percent. Earlier research had found that when used alone, the answers to a four-question symptom-screening questionnaire and the CA125 ovarian-cancer blood test each detected about 60 percent of early-stage ovarian-cancer cases and 80 percent of late-stage cases. This study found that when used together, the questionnaire and blood test may boost early-detection rates to more than 80 percent and late-stage detection rates to more than 95 percent. Learn more about boosting ovarian-cancer detection. »

• The Hutchinson Center has joined nine other research institutions in a National Cancer Institute-led research project designed to develop an accurate means of detecting early recurrences of ovarian cancer. Currently, the only approved test to see if ovarian cancer has returned—known as CA125—cannot reliably diagnose women who have no signs of ovarian cancer. Researchers are collecting a series of blood samples from women who had advanced-stage ovarian cancer but show no signs of the disease after completing their first program of chemotherapy. Their long-term goal is to make a test that can predict the presence of early stage ovarian cancer using new technology that examines blood proteins. Learn more about detecting early-stage ovarian cancer. »

• Dr. Martin McIntosh and colleagues developed a test in 2004 that more accurately identifies ovarian-cancer cases by relying on detection of two types of protein—CA125 and mesothelin—instead of just one. Learn about the two-protein ovarian-cancer test. »

• A team of Seattle researchers, including Drs. Nicole Urban and Martin McIntosh, identified another protein in 2003 that could improve diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Researchers found that a test for the protein, known as HE4, was more effective at distinguishing true cancers from benign ovarian disease than the only other commercially available test, which detects the presence of the CA125 protein. Learn more about the HE4 ovarian-cancer test. »

• Preliminary research by Drs. Garnet Anderson, Martin McIntosh, and Nicole Urban could ultimately help doctors to predict a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer--and prevent the disease's development altogether. The researchers have found evidence that three proteins—CA125, HE4 and mesothelin—exist in increasing levels in patients' blood 3 to 4 years prior to their ovarian-cancer diagnosis. They also observed a small difference in protein levels between cases and controls throughout the entire period before ovarian-cancer diagnosis. With that knowledge, the researchers are conducting further studies to see whether elevated levels of those proteins could enhance doctors' ability to predict ovarian-cancer risk. The researchers are also working on new ways to prevent ovarian cancer by exploring the effectiveness of certain interventions -- such as removal of the ovaries after childbearing -- in women identified, based on their family history or blood protein markers, as being at high risk for the disease. 

Tracking ovarian-cancer treatment

• Dr. Toshiyasu Taniguchi and colleagues have identified why some recurrent ovarian tumors become resistant to treatment with commonly used chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin. The reason relates to mutations in the BRCA2 gene, which works to repair damaged DNA. Learn more about ovarian tumors and chemotherapy. »

• Dr. Barbara Goff and colleagues have found that one in three ovarian-cancer patients in the United States fails to receive the recommended comprehensive surgical treatment. Their review of hospital data from nine states found that women who are elderly or poor or live in communities of color — specifically, those older than 70, African American or Hispanic, or Medicaid-insured — were at greatest risk for undertreatment. Read more about inconsistencies in ovarian-cancer treatment. »

Harnessing the body's cancer-fighting powers

• Hutchinson Center investigators lead a revolutionary field called immunotherapy, which is dedicated to harnessing the immune system's tumor-fighting powers to develop highly effective, less-toxic treatments for a multitude of cancers and life-threatening diseases. Dr. Cassian Yee is testing a new immunotherapy that was pioneered for advanced melanoma, called adoptive T-cell therapy, in clinical trials with women who have advanced ovarian cancer.  The technique involves extracting rare disease-fighting immune cells called T-cells from patients, expanding the cells to large quantities, and infusing them back into patients, where they seek out and destroy tumor cells. Learn more about Cassian Yee’s immunotherapy work. »

• Women with advanced ovarian cancer who have a natural immune response to a protein made by their tumors may live substantially longer after diagnosis than women who do not, according to a study by Dr. Nora Disis and Seattle-area colleagues. The findings provide new support for the potential of immunotherapy, which relies on harnessing the immune system's innate ability to fight disease. The researchers and their collaborators are testing ways to boost this innate cancer-fighting response with the hope of improving survival for all patients with ovarian cancer. Learn more about boosting the body’s cancer-fighting capablities. »

• Drs. Veronika Groh and Thomas Spies, along with Yee and other collaborators, have also opened the door to new treatment possibilities for melanoma, along with other diseases, such as breast and ovarian cancers. In the laboratory, they have discovered a method for coaxing an important component of the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. Learn more about Groh's and Spies' work. »

Investigating ovarian-cancer prevention

• Dr. Ross Prentice and colleagues have found that postmenopausal women who followed a low-fat diet—that is, limiting fat intake to 20 percent of their overall food consumption—had a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who did not cut back on fat. The same study, known as the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Randomized Controlled Trial, had previously demonstrated that a low-fat diet may reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Learn more about diet and ovarian cancer. »

Ovarian Cancer: More Resources

• Every advance in cancer treatment in recent years has come out of clinical trials that test innovative medical approaches on patients. Find out more about clinical trials on ovarian cancer. »

• The Hutchinson Center also conducts ongoing cancer-prevention studies that depend on participation of healthy volunteers. Learn more about getting involved in research studies. » 

• In need of medical attention for ovarian cancer? Visit the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to get help. »

• The Hutchinson Center is on a mission to eliminate cancer and related diseases as causes of human suffering and death, and you can help. Make a gift today. »