Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Ovarian cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. Such poor outcome is due to lack of reliable early detection strategies and suboptimal response to chemotherapies. Our study focuses on a rare subtype of ovarian cancer: low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (LGSOC). Since LGSOC is rarer than other subtypes, accounting for 5% of all ovarian cancer cases, it is relatively understudied. But there is an urgent clinical need to understand this disease as it typically presents in young women and is usually resistant to conventional chemotherapy. LGSOC is thought to come from the Fallopian tube, with 2 frequent mutations occurring together. We are interested in how these different mutations work together to drive the initiation of LGSOC. To model the initiation process, we adopt the novel organoid system wherein we take normal fallopian tube cells and grow them in specialized conditions so that they form 3D structures resembling small organs. We will introduce different mutations specific to LGSOC into healthy human Fallopian tube organoids and study changes in cells. Cutting-edge sequencing technologies will be utilized to study the changes that occur as a result of added mutations at single-cell levels. The combination of organoid and single-cell technology has positioned us to address the question of how LGSOC occur in the first place. Understanding why and how cancer occur could considerably open up venues for developing early detection and prevention strategies, as well as more targeted therapies for different individuals.