Iowa Board of Regents

UI receives grant to develop new treatment for ovarian cancer

The University of Iowa has been selected as an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Sprint for Women’s Health awardee to develop a new approach to combating ovarian cancer in women.

Jill Kolesar, dean and professor at the College of Pharmacy, will lead a research team that aims to leverage the production of extracellular vesicles — small, fluid-filled sacs released by cells that carry proteins and other biologically important agents — to target and eliminate ovarian cancer cells. The approach, if successful, would be a major advancement to current ovarian cancer treatments, which target cancerous and healthy cells.

“Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, and there are few effective treatments,” says Kolesar, the Jean M. Schmidt Chair in Drug Discovery at Iowa. “We have developed a new therapy that is effective and has few or no adverse effects. This grant supports the first clinical trial of this therapy and the next step in making it available to women who need it desperately.”

Ovarian cancer is projected to kill more than 12,700 women in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society. There is currently no early detection for the disease. Moreover, two of three women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and undergo chemotherapy experience a recurrence. 

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