UMBC Researchers Find New Ovarian Cancer Target
Researchers at UMBC have identified an enzyme called USP15 as a potential target for new ovarian cancer treatments. The study suggests that inhibiting this enzyme could slow cancer growth and increase the effectiveness of existing chemotherapy.
Why it matters
This discovery offers a promising new pathway for developing more targeted cancer therapies with fewer side effects.
Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed after it has already spread to other parts of the body, at which point the five-year survival rate is under 30 percent. Further complicating treatment, standard therapies cause substantial harm to healthy cells alongside cancerous ones. But what if ovarian cancer treatment could more specifically target cancerous cells, causing less harm to the rest of the body? New research from Achuth Padmanabhan 's lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) offers hope in the form of a potential molecular target for new cancer drugs: an enzyme called USP15, which ovarian cancer cells appear to rely on more heavily than normal cells.
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