Elda Righi, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Blockade of the CXCL12 and VEGF axes in ovarian cancer
One of the reasons ovarian cancer progresses with few evident symptoms may be the combination of ways in which the cancer escapes the patient’s immune system and organizes a vascular supply to serve its own needs. CXCL12 and VEGF are two factors made in excess by human ovarian cancer and they appear to work together to increase each others effects adding to the ways in which the tumor escapes from control. Dr. Righi, through excellent collaborators to mouse models, proposes to test the idea that blockade of both CXCL12 and VEGF would be significantly better than blocking either one. If successful, this work would add a new dimension to therapy for ovarian cancer patients.