HILDRETH

Teal Lunch II raises $20,000 for ovarian cancer research

By AMY R. KAUFMAN

article created on: 2009-06-11T00:00:00

In 2005 Sherie Hildreth turned her diagnosis of ovarian cancer into a mandate to create funding for research of the disease. At the May 17 Teal Ribbon Luncheon II, the Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer Foundation raised about $20,000 to benefit the research performed by Tanja Pejovic, MD, division chief of gynecologic oncology at Oregon Health and Science University, who heads the “the only research lab for ovarian cancer in the state of Oregon,” said Hildreth.

About 200 attended the event at the Tualatin Country Club to benefit the SHOC Foundation, which has donated more than $172,000 to Pejovic’s research within the past four years. Hildreth’s mother, Geri Matin, was master of ceremonies.

Pejovic thanked SHOC for its support of the research lab, which is part of the Oregon Health and Science University Knight Cancer Institute.

She said, “Due to your support, we have identified different genes that have been altered in patients who are at high risk of ovarian cancer, and we can identify them very early.”

Pejovic said, “In principle, one can either build the antibodies to attack these abnormal genes, or—if there is a mutation in the gene that makes the gene abnormal—that knowledge would be a basis to build new pharmaceutical agents” that are less toxic than current chemotherapy.

She said she has noted a “change of direction” in cancer research in general during “the last 12 to 18 months,” and she believes it will impact the way ovarian cancer is treated, “so that the new forms of treatment for ovarian cancer would be available within the next three to five years.”

“We are looking at a completely new way of treatment that does not include chemotherapy as we know it, but it looks at biological means to influence the genetic pathways or metabolic pathways that are altered in cancer,” she said. “The new pharmaceuticals we expect to have really don’t affect the healthy cells, but only the altered functional pathways in cancer cells. There is a robust technology to help with that.”

Pejovic said her research lab “has access to new clinical trials and research from other institutions with a focus on the immune system and its role in fighting off ovarian cancer progression.”

“The combination of vaccines and antibodies against T cell antigens is being used in clinical trials to produce strong yet measured immune response in ovarian cancer,” she said.

According to the event program, in 2008 Pejovic and Grover Bagby MD, researcher and former director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, announced the discovery of a critical gene involved in ovarian cancer. It has been found that the ovarian cells in women at high risk for the disease switch off this gene. In order to define the factors that control the switch for this gene, Pejovic and Bagby are developing a new core facility that provides genome-wide information on genetic switches.

Lisa Clark, FNP, AOCNP, a nurse practitioner who has worked in gynecology at NW Cancer Specialists and has now joined Lucy Langer MD and the Genetic Risk and Evaluation Testing Program, gave an overview of hereditary cancer syndromes and ovarian cancer.

Yukie Tarumi, a senior research associate at OHSU, spoke on the recently founded Oregon Ovarian Cancer Registry, which collects data and samples from ovarian cancer patients and their families.

Thanking the physicians at NW Cancer Specialists, where she is treated, Hildreth said, “They are not only the light at the end of the tunnel but the guiding light that goes through the tunnel. They make cancer treatment bearable and give us hope.”

SHOC, an all-volunteer organization, is the only ovarian cancer foundation in the state. Its purpose is to increase awareness and knowledge of ovarian cancer, empower women who fall victim to the disease, and raise research funds. For information or to donate, visit shocfoundation.com.