The findings, published online by the journal Nature Medicine, could revolutionize treatment for patients with ovarian clear cell carcinoma, a very difficult to treat subtype of ovarian cancer — the deadliest of all cancers affecting the female reproductive system.
 

Ovarian cancer is divided into four subtypes, including clear cell carcinoma, which affects approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of American ovarian cancer patients and about 20 percent of patients in Asia.
 

While most patients with ovarian cancer initially respond well to standard-care platinum-based chemotherapy, the response rate among those with the clear cell subtype is typically low and there is currently no effective therapy for these patients.
 

"One of the significant challenges with the treatment of ovarian cancer is finding a suitable target that effectively halts the progression of the disease in a personalized manner based on one's genetic makeup," said Rugang Zhang, associate professor in Wistar's Gene Expression and Regulation Program. "With this study, we have done just that. For patients with this particular subtype, this newly discovered targeted approach may eventually lead to the first effective targeted therapy they've ever had."
 

The researchers found drugs now under development — known as EZH2 inhibitors — block the process by which cells becoming cancerous.
 

"With EZH2 inhibitors currently in clinical development, we believe that our findings will have far-reaching implications," said Benjamin Bitler. "Excitingly, this study provides a much-needed therapeutic strategy for clear cell ovarian cancer and can be utilized to aid in the identification of patients that could benefit from EZH2 inhibition therapy."