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- One-two punch against ovarian cancer
Scientific Research
One-two punch against ovarian cancer
One of the great challenges in ovarian cancer is to understand how patient’s tumors recur following initially effective chemotherapy treatments.
Funding for the Institute: nearly $ 165,000
Thanks to the work of Francis Rodier, we now understand that often following these treatments, ovarian cancer cells enter a kind of dormancy called “senescence”. Fortunately, there are drugs that eliminate senescent cells. This work, published in a prestigious journal (Nature Communications) is so important that a clinical trial was initiated by combining chemotherapy with an anti-senescence drug in order to attack the tumor on two fronts, and leave no chance to cancer cells. This clinical trial is largely led by the CHUM’s gynecologic oncology group, headed by Dr. Diane Provencher.
Researchers involved:
- Francis Rodier
- Anne-Marie Mes-Masson
- Dre Diane Provencher
This work is the result of more than 20 years of contribution of the Institut du cancer de Montréal in the banking of samples of patients suffering from ovarian cancer (directed by Anne-Marie Mes-Masson) and the acquisition of advanced technologies.
Interesting fact: the institute provided training for Francis Rodier in Anne-Marie Mes-Masson’s laboratory and his repatriation from California a few years ago!