Dr. Youqing Shen

UW Researchers Receive $690,000 Grant to Fight Ovarian Cancer

July 17, 2006 - The American Cancer Society (ACS) has awarded a $690,000 grant for a University of Wyoming research project to develop more effective drug delivery to kill ovarian cancer cells.

Youqing Shen, assistant professor in the UW Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and co-investigator William J. Murdoch, professor in the UW Department of Animal Science, received the award for their research involving "Fast Cytoplasmic Drug Delivery Nanoparticles for Ovarian Cancer." The UW proposal was ranked second among the 146 grants awarded by the ACS to promising new investigators. The grant will fund research to develop a targeted therapy for ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death among women, Shen says. The five-year survival rate of advanced patients is less than 10 percent.

"Ovarian cancer is a most deadly disease. Usually, the patient has no sign until the cancer is at its latest stage. Once in the latest stage, there is no way to cure the disease," he says, adding that patients often experience relapses because cancer cells commonly become resistant to treatment drugs.

Current treatment methods involve distributing drugs throughout the entire body. The method kills cancer cells, but also damages healthy cells, which results in undesirable side effects such as nausea, hair loss and weakness. Shen's research focuses on targeting drug delivery to specific cells.

"We are working to give the particles a function so they are able to effectively release the drug specifically into the cancer cells," he says. "The very small particles, nanoparticles, work more-or-less like missiles -- they locate and explode within the target."

Targeted drug delivery for cancer cells would decrease side effects and increase effectiveness by lowering drug concentrations throughout the entire body and raising drug concentrations in the tumor area, Shen says.

The UW researchers will test the anti-cancer drug-loaded particles on ovarian cancer in mice. If successful, the treatment method could be applied to other cancers.

Shen also received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for cancer-targeted drug delivery. Five doctoral students and two post-doctoral fellows are working with him on the project.