A VACCINE REVOLUTION

What if we could stop ovarian cancer before it starts?

Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed too late. With no reliable screening test, prevention could be a game-changer. That’s the goal of OvarianVax – a potential vaccine designed to stop ovarian cancer before it even begins.

Vaccines have already revolutionised cancer prevention. The HPV vaccine has dramatically reduced cervical cancer cases, and a similar approach is showing promise in testicular cancer.

At the University of Oxford, Professor Ahmed Ahmed and his team are developing OvarianVax –a vaccine designed to help the immune system recognise and attack ovarian cancer cells before they take hold.

If successful, OvarianVax could be life-changing. Initially, the focus will be on women with BRCA gene mutations, who face a significantly higher risk of ovarian cancer. Many choose preventative surgery, removing their ovaries before 35, to reduce their risk. This vaccine could offer a safer, non-surgical alternative. But the long-term goal is broader. If proven effective, OvarianVax could one day become a routine vaccine for all women.

Inside the research that could change everything

For the last decade, Professor Ahmed and his team have tackled ovarian cancer from two angles: understanding how it begins and harnessing the immune system to fight it.

Initially, they focused on early detection, but alongside this, they explored how immunotherapy could stop the disease before it starts. Then they asked: what if these two areas of research could be combined? Instead of waiting to detect ovarian cancer, could the immune system be trained to eliminate it before it grows? This idea became OvarianVax – a vaccine designed to target ovarian cancer at its earliest stage.

This is how it might work. OvarianVax is designed to target tumour-associated antigens (proteins found on the surface of these cells), so the immune system can recognise and eliminate them.

By exposing the immune system to these antigens, scientists hope to ‘train’ the body to detect and destroy cancer cells before they have the chance to grow into tumours.

What’s next?

OvarianVax is still in the early stages of development, but progress is being made. Since 2014, Ovarian Cancer Action has supported Professor Ahmed’s discoveries, ensuring this vital research continues. Thanks to this long-term investment – and the generosity of supporters – OvarianVax has now received a £600,000 grant from Cancer Research UK to advance pre-clinical research, the crucial next step before clinical trials.