A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher has received a $900,000 grant to study ovarian cancer vaccination.
UAMS professor Martin J. Cannon, Ph.D., received the grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, which will enable him to study dendritic cell vaccination against the cancer. The grant will fund a collaborative research partnership between UAMS, the University of Pennsylvania and MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
“We are thrilled to support this groundbreaking project, whose findings will further our understanding of this complicated disease, and bring us closer to a world where no one needs to fear an ovarian cancer diagnosis,” Audra Moran, president and CEO of OCRA, said in a statement. The organization has awarded grants to 16 scientists across 14 medical centers, totaling $4.3 million.
Cannon said the purpose of his research will be the study the role of “infiltrating” immune cells in an ovarian tumor and how this impacts the progression and suppression of treatment. “The OCRA award is focused on how to overcome resistance to treatment, including dendritic cell vaccination,” Cannon said.
Currently, the standard treatment for ovarian cancer is surgery with chemotherapy. Dendritic cell vaccinations have been offered as an alternative therapeutic approach.
Beginning in January 2021, the grant runs through 2023.
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