Ovarian Cancer Research at Penn Medicine

Penn Medicine is leading the way with groundbreaking research in ovarian cancer. Launched in 2007 under the leadership of George Coukos, MD, PhD, Penn’s Ovarian Cancer Research Center is making prevention, early detection, treatment and understanding the biology of ovarian cancer a priority.

Leaders in Ovarian Cancer Research

The Abramson Cancer Center, in collaboration with Penn’s Ovarian Cancer Research Center and the Jordan Center for Gynecologic Cancer is one of the nation’s leading programs in ovarian cancer research and patient care.

The ovarian cancer research center has three major research programs:

• Prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer including the development of new blood tests, imaging, and other tools to detect cancer as well as studying environmental causes of ovarian cancer and potential vaccines.
• Advanced therapeutics program, which focuses on developing innovative treatments for ovarian cancer including immune and biologic therapies.
• Ovarian cancer biology and pathogenesis program aimed to understand the genomics, genetics, immunology and biology of ovarian cancer

Promising Discoveries in Ovarian Cancer Research

Dr. Coukos is currently working on developing novel treatments for ovarian cancer using immunotherapy.

At the time of surgery, the patient’s tumor is saved for future use. Within the tumor are tumor-specific killer T-cells, white blood cells that help the body fight disease. Immunotherapy uses these T-cells from the tumor to develop vaccines and therapeutic lymphocytes for personalized treatment therapy.

“The vaccine that Penn is supporting takes the natural attack function of the immune system and amplifies it, thereby focusing a much higher percentage of the patient's immune system on her ovarian cancer,” says Dr. Coukos. “The ultimate objective of these cancer vaccines is to direct a larger percentage of the patient's killer T-cell army against the patient's specific cancer.”

The Future of Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Currently, immunotherapy is only available to women with ovarian cancer who are enrolled in clinical trials at the Jordan Center for Gynecologic Cancer at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. Penn is currently building a new facility, the Penn Regional Ovarian Cancer Network and Ovarian Tumor Processing Facility.

This new facility will connect Penn with community-based gynecologic practices and physicians throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region to collect, transport, process and store tumor tissue. After completing standard chemotherapy, patients will have access to individualized treatments using their own tumor tissue.

Connecting women to Penn’s experts in research and treatment provides new options to women with ovarian cancer and may lead to improved survival rates and quality of life.

Learn more about ovarian cancer treatment at the Abramson Cancer Center.

View the 2011 Focus On Gynecologic Cancers Conference.

Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.