Project Description:

Ascites are a build up of fluid that occurs in the abdomen during the occurrence of a variety of diseases including some ovarian cancers. The impact that ascites can have on floating ovarian cancer cells, a source of cell that can be a catalyst for secondary tumours to grow and metastasis, is not well understood. The team’s preliminary data demonstrated, in in vitro studies, that ascitic fluid reduced the effect of inhibitors including EGFR/HER-2 which are molecules present in cancer patients. This project sought to expand on these findings with the hope of understanding the effect of ascitic fluids on the responsiveness of ovarian cancer to chemotherapy. The team hoped to understand why ascites fluid helped cancer cells survive and how they could be targeted to prevent metastasis.