Researcher holding vaccine Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.There are no routine screenings for ovarian cancer for women. Yes, ovarian cancer is rare, representing 1% of new cancer diagnoses every year in the U.S. But, its a serious disease as only half of the nearly 20,000 women diagnosed each year survive past 5 years. Thats quite low as compared with breast cancer, where the 5-year survival rate is over 90%.Scientists at Cancer Research UK were recently awarded 600,000 to develop the first ovarian cancer vaccine, called OvarianVax. Medical oncologist and immunologist Dr. Matthew Block from the Mayo Clinic is working to develop an ovarian cancer vaccine using engineered white blood cells from patients with ovarian cancer. The vaccine will target a protein called folate receptor alpha that is associated with ovarian cancer.Dr Block shared, One way in which the two vaccines differ is in their intended patient populations. The vaccine developed at Mayo Clinic is being used in patients who already have ovarian cancer; both as a means to prevent ovarian cancer recurrence for patients in remission from cancer (secondary prevention), as well as in a regimen treating active ovarian cancer. In contrast, the UK vaccine, while it will first be tested in ovarian cancer patients, is being developed primarily to prevent ovarian cancer from developing in patients who are at risk for the disease but have never had it (primary prevention).Dr Block explained that the commercially available human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil 9 prevents cancer by preventing long-term infection with cancer-causing HPV strains. He explained, Since ovarian cancer is not known to be caused by a virus, ovarian cancer vaccines target proteins expressed by the tumor cells rather than viral proteins. Similar to the commercially available HPV vaccine, the UK ovarian cancer vaccine is designed to be used in patients who do not have cancer, with the researchers looking to see if the risk of cancer will be substantially reduced.Dr Melissa Frey, gynecologic oncologist and Director of the Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program at Weill Cornell Medicine, explains that there are currently no reliable methods to screen for ovarian cancer. For women who are higher risk for ovarian cancer, for example women with BRCA1/2 mutation or Lynch syndrome, some physicians recommend transvaginal (pelvic) ultrasound and a CA-125 blood test.MORE FOR YOUDr Frey shared, These tests may result in increased detection of early stage ovarian cancer, versus late stage ovarian cancers. However, these tests are not included on National Comprehensive Cancer Network guideline recommendations for women with hereditary ovarian cancer predisposition and large clinical trials suggest that these tests do not translate into improved survival for people found to have ovarian cancer. Dr Frey explained that there are several groups working on cancer vaccines and there are open clinical trials with this goal, however, we remain several years away from an FDA- approved vaccine for this indication.