Newswise — DETROIT — Gen Sheng Wu, Ph.D., professor of oncology in the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, recently received a grant from the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.
This four-year, $924,000 grant will benefit Wu’s study, “Targeting Dual-Specificity Phosphatase 1 in Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer,” which aims to discover improved treatments for ovarian cancer. “Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest diseases,” said Wu. “It’s difficult to diagnose early and most cases are only found in the late stages.
The late stage survival rate is approximately 30%. After surgery, chemotherapy is the other primary treatment; however, patients develop a resistance to this treatment very quickly. It’s a major problem with ovarian cancer and it’s our major challenge in the field.
” The overarching challenge that this research will address is the elimination of drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells using new treatment regimens. Specifically, Wu and his research team have identified a resistance mechanism that involves a protein called dual-specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1). Wu believes this could be an important step in addressing ovarian cancer because it has the potential to improve the efficacy of platinum-based therapies.
Platinum-based therapies are the standard first-line chemotherapy for most patients with ovarian cancer. However, almost all patients rece.