Nuzhat Ahmed, PhD
Women’s Cancer Research Center (Australia)
Determining the MicroRNA Signature of Isolated Chemoresistant Ascites Tumor Cells
Despite advances in treatment, almost 80% of ovarian cancer patients suffer disease recurrence and succumb to the disease within 5 years of diagnosis. Cancer stem cells are a small population of drug resistant tumor cells that survive chemotherapy treatment. These cells are capable of initiating new tumor growth and therefore contribute to ovarian cancer recurrence. Dr. Ahmed will utilize novel and known methods to isolate circulating cancer stem cells from the ascites (tumor fluid) of ovarian cancer patients before and after chemotherapy treatment to identify targets which support cancer stem cell survival and chemotherapy resistance.