Queen’s University cancer researcher Madhuri Koti has discovered a biomarker that will help lead to better predictions of the success of chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients.

Biomarkers are an indicator of a biological state or condition, and the discovery could lead to better treatment options in the fight against ovarian cancer, according to a press release from the university.

“Recent successes in harnessing the immune system to combat cancer are evidence for the significant roles of a cancer patient’s immune responses in fighting cancer,” explains Indian American professor Dr. Koti.

“Many of these successes are based on boosting anti-cancer immunity via different therapies. Such therapies would prove to be most effective when coupled with markers predicting a patient’s eventual response to a specific therapy”.

Dr. Koti’s study, conducted on over 200 ovarian cancer patients, utilised a combination of cutting-edge detection technologies for identifying such markers.

A major impact of this discovery is that these novel markers, when used at the time of treatment initiation in the specific type of ovarian cancer patient, will help oncologists make decisions on additional treatment needed in these patients, thus increasing their potential for survival.

Ovarian cancer leads to approximately 152,000 deaths among women worldwide each year, making it a leading cause of gynaecological cancer related deaths in women.