A drug in testing to treat atherosclerosis significantly inhibited growth of ovarian cancer in both human cell lines and mouse models, the first such report of a peptide being used to fight malignancies, according to a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study follows previous discovery by the same group showing that a protein called apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) in patients may be used as a biomarker to diagnose early stage ovarian cancer, when it typically is asymptomatic and is much easier to treat. These earlier findings could be vital to improving early detection, as more than 85 percent of ovarian cancer cases present in the advanced stages, when the cancer has already spread and patients are more likely to have a recurrence after treatment, said Dr. Robin Farias-Eisner, chief of gynecologic oncology and co-senior author of the study with Dr. Srinu Reddy, a professor of medicine.

"The vast majority of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed with advanced disease and the vast majority of those, after surgery and chemotherapy, will eventually become resistant to standard therapy," Farias-Eisner said. "That's the reason these patients die. Now, with this peptide as a potential therapy, and if successful in clinical trials, we may have a novel effective therapy for recurrent, chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer, without compromising the quality of life during treatment."
The study was published Nov. 1, 2010 in the early online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In their previous work, Farias-Eisner, Reddy and their research teams identified three novel biomarkers that they used to diagnose early stage ovarian cancer. In September 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first laboratory test that can indicate the likelihood of ovarian cancer, OVA1TM Test, which includes the three biomarkers identified and validated by Farias-Eisner, Reddy and their research teams.

They observed that one of the markers, apoA-I, was decreased in patients with early stage disease. They wondered why the protein was decreased and set out to uncover the answer. They speculated that the protein might be protective, and may be preventing disease progression.

The protein, apoA-I, is the major component of HDL, the good cholesterol, and plays an important role in reverse cholesterol transport by extracting cholesterol and lipids from cells and transferring it to the liver for extraction. The protein also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Because lipid transport, inflammation and oxidative stress are associated with the development and progression of cancer, Farias-Eisner and Reddy hypothesized that the reduced levels of apoA-I in ovarian cancer patients may be causal in disease progression.

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