Research at Fox Chase »Research Areas »SPORE in Ovarian Cancer

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has selected Fox Chase Cancer Center to receive an NCI grant for a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. The five-year grant is one of five awarded to NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers to fund ovarian cancer research.

Fox Chase is the only center in Pennsylvania and the first of only two facilities on the entire East Coast to receive a SPORE grant for ovarian cancer. NCI has designed SPORE grants to support innovative, multidisciplinary research approaches that potentially may have an immediate impact on improving cancer care and prevention.

The grant funds Fox Chase research projects that focus on translating basic research findings from the laboratory to clinical settings. The goal of this "translational" research is to discover methods of earlier detection and improved prevention and treatments for this deadly disease.

Michael V Seiden, MD, PhD, is the principal investigator of the SPORE grant at Fox Chase Cancer Center. George Coukos, MD, from the University of Pennsylvania and Jeff Boyd, PhD, are co-principal investigators on this grant.

"Despite recent treatment improvements, ovarian cancer remains the number one gynecologic killer in the United States. " Seiden said. "One reason is that it often produces few symptoms until the disease has advanced. The SPORE grant expands our research effort and combines clinical trials and laboratory studies."

According to the NCI, in the United States in 2008, an estimated 21,650 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed and an estimated 15,520 deaths occurred as a result of ovarian cancer. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women.

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