About 20 women a day are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK. Their condition is often well advanced before it is detected, making their tumours difficult to treat.
But if Belfast researcher Shannon Beattie is successful, it may be possible in the near future to make detections of ovarian cancer much more speedily and more accurately than today.
“Earlier detection of ovarian cancer would make a crucial difference in treating the disease,” said Beattie, the chief operating officer of GenoME Diagnostics, a spin-out company from Queen’s University Belfast. “It would allow doctors to treat tumours when they are small and have not spread to other parts of the body. That makes it much easier to eradicate them.”
And the project is about to be boosted with a £50,000 award that is to be given to Beattie as part of the celebrations marking International Women’s Day on Tuesday. She is one of 39 British female entrepreneurs who have won Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation awards, which will be announced on that date.
GenoME Diagnostics’ project has involved isolating a number of biomarkers that can potentially be detected in a patient’s blood. If a woman is found to be carrying a particular set of these biomarkers, this could indicate if she is in the early stages of ovarian cancer, said Beattie.
“At present, most cases of ovarian cancer are not spotted until a woman has reached the later stages of the disease. In stage three, there is roughly a 20% chance of survival, while for stage four, it is even less. So there is clearly an urgent need to develop more effective tests.”
The system being developed by Beattie and her colleagues at GenoME Diagnostics is focused on detecting one of the worst, most aggressive subtypes of ovarian cancer, a condition known as high-grade serous carcinoma, which accounts for about 70% of cases.
Armed with the biomarkers that have been identified and patented by her company, Beattie and her team are now analysing how effective these are at detecting – in early stages – those affected by high-grade serous carcinoma. Once this has been established, the aim will then be to find out if these biomarkers – which can be pinpointed using a simple blood test, it is hoped – are effective in detecting all ovarian cancers at early stages.
“It is not just early detection that we are developing,” Beattie added. “Current tests also trigger many false positives and that causes a lot of stress for women who are told, incorrectly, that they may have ovarian cancer, only to discover much later that they are actually unaffected by the condition.”
Other projects to be given prizes this week at the Women in Innovation awards will include a type of brain implant that can treat glioblastoma, the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults; a revolutionary wearable technology for athletes that provides key data to help reduce injuries and improve recovery times; and a scheme to make artificial leather from garden waste.
The 39 female entrepreneurs, who come from all nations and regions of the UK, will each be awarded £50,000 to help them scale up their ideas and get them into production.
The awards are now in their fourth year and are open to female founders, co-founders or senior decision-makers working in businesses that have been operating for at least a year.
