The Schlaepfer
Laboratory

Schlaepfer Lab granted prestigious V Foundation for Cancer Research Translational Award for "Overcoming Immune Resistance in Ovarian Cancer"

One of the biggest challenges to extending patient survival from recurrent ovarian cancer is to understand how these tumors can “hide” from detection by cells of the immune system. Immunotherapy involves treatments that use the body's own immune system to help fight cancer. Our work builds upon the idea that ovarian tumors upregulate immune “protective” molecules and that these provide a “shield” against immune cell attack.

We have found that the activity of a protein (FAK) within ovarian tumor cells drives protection signals to limit immune cell activation. The combination of novel drugs blocking FAK with immunotherapy resulted in the survival of mice with aggressive ovarian tumors. In mice, we have identified measurable markers that circulate in blood, the presence of which increased as tumors were being attacked by immune cells. Mice treated with a novel combination of tumor- and immune-targeting therapies will validate the timing and extent of marker changes in tissues and blood as the tumor shrinks. The benefit of measuring markers in blood is that this does not involve surgery and may provide clinicians with early insights of patient response.