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Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers
About this Laboratory
Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal gynaecological cancers, owing to a lack of recognisable symptoms and subsequent late-stage diagnosis in many cases. Our laboratory is applying proteomics technologies to identify proteins that may be useful in the development of an early stage screening test for ovarian cancer.
Related to Research Themes
Current Research
Circulating markers of ovarian cancer - We are seeking to identify and characterise cancer-specific proteins circulating in plasma. Technologies being used include multiplexed protein labelling, protein fractionation and mass spectrometry. Ongoing work includes identification and validation studies for development of a screening test to detect early-stage cancers.
Auto-immune response in cancer patients - Cancer patients exhibit an immune response to their tumours at the earliest stages of progression – often before clinical symptoms are apparent. We have developed a platform to isolate and identify auto-antigenic proteins directly from patient plasma. Studies are ongoing to identify and characterise such proteins as specific markers of the early stages of tumour formation.
Nanoparticle technology for the identification of novel cancer markers - Our team has developed a novel nanoparticle technology which is being applied to samples such as human plasma, urine and cell extracts to capture and comparatively analyse small proteins as potential cancer markers.
Fallopian tube as the origin of epithelial ovarian cancers - Recent evidence suggests that many epithelial-type ovarian tumours may arise on the fimbriae of the fallopian tubes. We are establishing fallopian tube cell lines to investigate the molecular biology behind this phenomenon.