The role of a known cancer-causing gene in the development of the most lethal type of ovarian cancer is being investigated by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute after they were awarded a Cure Cancer Australia Foundation (CCAF) grant.

Dr Rachael Rutkowski, from the institute’s Stem Cells and Cancer division, was awarded $180,000 to study the role of the known cancer-causing gene in the development of high-grade serous ovarian cancers. This gene belongs to the MYC family of cancer-causing genes that are overproduced in more than 50 per cent of human cancers.

Dr Rutkowski said that the MYC gene family had recently gained attention as a potential cause of some high-grade serous ovarian cancers that are associated with poor clinical outcomes.

“The Cure Cancer Australia funding will allow us to develop better disease models that we can use to discover whether the MYC gene family has a significant role in ovarian cancer development,” Dr Rutkowski said. “It could also help us identify new therapeutic targets and biomarkers for diagnosis of this devastating disease.”