In partnership with North West Cancer Research, we have awarded our second Fellowship to Dr Neil Ryan, Chief Scientific Officer, Clinical Lecturer and Subspecialty Trainee in Gynaecology Oncology from the University of Edinburgh. This fellowship aims to create a new blood test to detect ovarian cancer at its earliest stages when it is most treatable. 

Finding ovarian cancer early is critical to helping those diagnosed live longer and have more time with their loved ones. Treatments for ovarian cancer have come a long way in the last 20 years and late diagnosis is the biggest hurdle we face in helping more people survive their diagnosis. Neil plans to look for proteins that are signs of ovarian cancer that can be used as a blood test to pick it up in the earliest stages.  

There is currently no national screening test for ovarian cancer. If someone goes to the doctor with symptoms that could be caused by ovarian cancer, a blood test will be done to look for CA125, which can be elevated in ovarian cancers. But this test isn’t very specific as high levels of CA125 can be caused by other issues as well as cancer. The level of CA125 can also be normal even when someone does have ovarian cancer.  

Because of this, the CA125 blood test picks up just 5-6 in every 10 cases of early ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women (who haven’t had a period for 12 months or more).

Neil will look at blood samples from women with early ovarian cancers, healthy women, and women with non-cancerous cysts. Neil hopes that the proteins he finds could lead to larger studies looking in to whether they could be used as a screening test for ovarian cancer.  

A huge thank you for all of your support for making this Fellowship possible.