Is ovarian cancer linked to ovulation?
30 Jul 2012
Could ovulation be the link to ovarian cancer? Joanna Burdette of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy thinks it might be, and she's working to find out.
Burdette, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at UIC, is conducting new research to discover if ovulation increases a signaling pathway that transforms cells of the ovary surface or the lining of the Fallopian tubes into ovarian cancer.
Burdette has received a four-year $720,000 grant from the American Cancer Society of Illinois for her research, which focuses on epithelial cells, or surface and lining cells, in this case, of the female reproductive system.
"One of the most confounding issues of ovarian cancer is the concept that the epithelial subtype responsible for the disease is still not completely known," Burdette says.
"Preventing the disease might be attainable, but we first need to find out where the tumors arise," she said. "Past research has concluded that the cancer occurs from either the epithelial cells on the ovary, fallopian tube, or both."
Using three-dimensional cell cultures developed in her laboratory to monitor early cell-signalling pathways responsible for the disease, Burdette is investigating how cells become cancerous and whether hormones are part of the process.
