Barbara Vanderhyden, PhD
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Role of PAX2 in the Etiology of Ovarian and Fallopian Tube Cancers
The origins of ovarian cancer are poorly understood but most cancers seem to arise from the surface layer of cells on the ovary or the fallopian tube. Ovarian surface epithelial cells have the ability to develop into ovarian cancer subtypes that fall into two broad categories: low-grade and high-grade. Previous work shows that changes in a protein, PAX2, occur in the earliest cancerous structures in both ovaries and fallopian tubes. Dr. Vanderhyden’s lab has developed methods to isolate both ovarian and fallopian tube cells from mice and will determine how changes in PAX2 contribute to the early stages of ovarian cancer.