Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Ovarian cancer is a debilitating disease affecting thousands of women every year in Canada. In 2018, 2800 women will be diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and 1800 women will die from the disease. Ovarian Cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer related death among women and the leaded cause of death from a gynaecological cancer. Symptoms may not appear until late stages of the disease and there is currently no screening methods for early detection of the disease. Ovarian cancer is therefore typically diagnosed at later stages, where the five-year survival rate is around 40%. Research is vital to developing new methods for early detection and developing new treatments to combat late stages of the disease and increase survival for Canadian women and women around the world. We have recent evidence that suggests that the FGL2 gene may be an important target in Ovarian Cancer. FGL2 is a gene involved in suppression of the immune system, which means the body is less able to recognize a tumour as a foreign invader and eliminate the cancer. This gene is found at higher than normal levels in other cancers as well; such as lung, liver, brain, renal and colorectal. We believe that this highlights the importance of targeting this gene to reduce the suppression of the immune system which would help the body fight off the cancer from within and increase survival of ovarian cancer patients. This project will investigate the potential of targeting FGL2 as a new treatment for ovarian cancer.