The goal of a University of Saskatchewan-led clinical trial is to improve the quality of life for ovarian cancer patients, while making it part of routine clinical testing and reducing costs.   The tumours of ovarian cancer patients will be tested for a range of mutations that predict the response to a new class of drugs.

Provincial lead for gynecologic oncology at the College of Medicine and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and co-lead of the project, Dr. Laura Hopkins said, “Previously we could only guess which patients would respond to treatment, which led to over-treatment of many patients – up to 25 per cent – receiving therapy from which they would not benefit and from which they experienced side effects and decreased quality of life.” By combining multiple tumour test methods together for the first time, patients will get more accurate, personalized genomic information, which will help them make more informed choices about their own care, including more precise estimates about the benefits of the drugs.

A USask news release says that in 2021, financial support from Ovarian Cancer Canada and the province paved the way for the team to establish Saskatchewan’s first biobank for ovarian tumour tissue. More recently, a generous gift in honour of Donald E. Kramer was made by his family which meant the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency was able to purchase a new, leading-edge next-generation genetic sequencing tool.

Dr. Hopkins says with this technology, they can predict the response to a given treatment and quantify the amount of benefit, which is not something that has been previously by any other cancer program and it is the first in Canada. The research team also includes the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency.