News item re vaccine

[candyapplegrey]

Got this on my news feed.

msn.com/en-gb/health/other/...

What about those of us who already have it?

And those without the BRCA gene?

Didn't realise percentage of those with it was only 5-15%.

Any thoughts?

xx

[kcha237]

thanks for sharing. I think the general statistics suggest BRCA deficiencies are found in around 20% of those cases diagnosed, but ofc, stats may vary regionally. Thank you for sharing! I'm not sure whether this will have any practical implications for current OC patients, but it sounds like the researchers are optimistic that there will be a wider impact that will come out of their ongoing research; if not for this generation of patients, then for the next.

[Jazmin222]

I thought it was amazing news - so encouraging!! My friend let me know about the article. It sounds like it might work at preventing … I don’t know what that means for us that have been diagnosed and have had surgery. Perhaps we could also be eligible for a vaccine to prevent recurrence? I’m seeing my oncologist on 9/10 so will ask and post an update after that.

[Lirene]

Thank you for the information. It would be a God send if it can prevent OC in the first place and wonderful if those of us already diagnosed could be free of recurrences.

Let us all pray this is the way forward in eradicating this horrendous disease forever.

Love and prayers to all Lx

[LovemyJackRussell]

If you read down through the article, it says that they will start the testing on people already with the disease, before moving on to those with the brca gene (the start of the article gives the impression that they would start with brca positive people). I've copied the relevant bit:-

For the work, scientists will create the vaccine in the lab, with the aim of training the immune system to recognise more than 100 proteins on the surface of ovarian cancer, known as tumour-associated antigens.

They will then move to testing the vaccine in patients with the disease.

Prof Ahmed said: “The idea is, if you give the vaccine, these tiny tumours will hopefully either reduce, shrink really significantly, or disappear. That would give us the sign that the vaccine is working.”

The next stage would then be to include women with BRCA mutations and a wider general population of women without known disease to see whether “the vaccine would be suitable for all” in preventing ovarian cancer.

[Motiva]

Anyone living close enough to Oxford to participate in trials could put their names forward.

[georgiageorgia182 in reply to Motiva]

Do you know how? I can't see anything online about becoming a participant! xx

[candyapplegrey in reply to georgiageorgia182]

Did you hear anything? I probably won't qualify as I have clear cell and don't live near Oxford.

[Trickysite]

It is wonderful to hear of possible prevention/eradication of this disease. And although unlikely to be in time for me, as I am 4b - but who knows, I know there are some ladies who have lived over ten years with 4B OC, -it gladdens my heart to think future generations may benefit. Emma - I do think it is a time of rapid advance in curing/controlling many cancers.

[Jholly4]

Now that ovarian cancer is included in genetic testing guidelines in uk this may be helpful to our first line relatives as a preventative non surgical strategy if BRCA found on the genetics.

[Tulips66]

Hi , while it won't help all of us ,it would be great to think that down the line this would work to prevent other women getting Ovarian cancer . A friend of mine who has also Ovarian cancer has told me that the European Medicine's Agency has just approved a new drug called "Elahere" (mirvetuximab soravtansine) for women with Advanced cancer . I am not sure if it has been approved in the UK ? Unfortunately as far as I am aware it will only be available to women with private health insurance first , which is so not right , as everyone of us with this dreadful disease should get the same chance as those that can afford to pay, but it does give us hope that there is something new on the way that will hopefully be available for us all.!!

New treatment

[DianaPrince_ in reply to Tulips66]

There's a clinical trial in the UK open for Elahere. I've added a link below.

Here are the criteria

- are aged 18 years or older

- have high-grade serous epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer

- have a tumor with high FRα expression (the researchers will test for this if you consent for the trial)

- have received prior treatment with a PARP inhibitor as maintenance therapy following first-line treatment (patients with somatic and germline BRCA gene variants only)

- have a recurrence of your ovarian cancer that is platinum-sensitive

- have had one previous line of chemotherapy for your ovarian cancer

I was tested but my tumor's FRα expression was too low, so I didn't qualify.

Here's a link to the trial - targetovariancancer.org.uk/...

[Tulips66 in reply to DianaPrince_]

That's great that there's a clinical trial opened in the UK , unfortunately I am living in Ireland so I can't apply & sorry you didn't qualify for it .

[OvacomeSupport Partner My Ovacome Team in reply to Tulips66]

Dear Tulips66

Thank you for your comment. The clinical trial for mirvetuximab soravtansine is running worldwide, including the Republic of Ireland. There are more details including trial locations on the clinicaltrials.gov website here: clinicaltrials.gov/study/NC...

It is not currently licenced treatment in the UK so it is only available through clinical trial. Anyone who wants to check if a drug is licenced in the UK can search the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) product list here: products.mhra.gov.uk/

I hope this information is useful.

Best wishes

Anna

Ovacome Support

[Tulips66 in reply to OvacomeSupport]

Thank you Anna for that information & it's something I can mention to my oncologist whom I am due to meet shortly

[Motiva]

[e-mail]

I would contact the Insitute and ask for it to be passed on to the Ahmed Reswarch Group.