Researchers at the University of Oxford are developing OvarianVax, a vaccine aimed at training the immune system to detect early signs of ovarian cancer.

A research team at the University of Oxford has received funding to work on a potential ovarian cancer vaccine.

The vaccine, called OvarianVax, is being designed to train the immune system to detect and target the earliest signs of ovarian cancer. Over the next three years, Cancer Research UK will provide up to £600,000 to fund the project.

Professor Ahmed Ahmed, the director of the university's ovarian cancer cell laboratory, mentions that they still have "a long way to go" but he is "optimistic." The scientists will work on developing the vaccine in the lab with the goal of training the immune system to recognize proteins on the surface of ovarian cancer cells, known as tumour-associated antigens. After this initial phase, they will begin testing the vaccine on patients who have the disease.

"The idea is, if you give the vaccine, these tiny tumours will hopefully either reduce, shrink really significantly, or disappear," said Prof Ahmed.

In the following phase, the team intends to involve women who carry genetic mutations that heighten their risk of developing ovarian cancer, along with a wider group of women who do not have any known health issues, to assess the vaccine's potential to prevent the disease.

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