| Talk title | Ovarian Cancer in an Era of Precision Medicine: From Mechanisms to Opportunities for New Diagnosis and Therapy |
| Prof. Benjamin K. TSANG Professor Director, Reproductive Biology Unit Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa Senior Scientist, Chronic Disease Program Ottawa Hospital Research Institute |
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| Date & Time | 12 Nov 2019 (Tue) 15:00-16:00 |
| Venue | Room G002, N22 Building (University of Macau) |
| Abstract | Ovarian cancer (OVCA) is the most lethal gynecological cancer, due mainly to late diagnosis, recurrence and chemoresistance. Although combined cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy is a successful treatment modality initially, chemoresistance remains a major hurdle for long term therapeutic success. OVCA is considered a cold tumor and has poor immune cell infiltration, rendering immunotherapy ineffective to date. In this lecture, Professor Ben TSANG will elaborate on the role of plasma gelsolin (pGSN), a calcium-dependent actin-binding protein, in the molecular and cellular basis of chemoresistance in OVCA. Specifically, pGSN secretion is involved in exosome-mediated signaling in the ovarian tumor microenvironment, resulting in subtype-specific T cell anergy, apoptosis and chemoresistance. The clinical significance of his studies is pGSN could serve as a new biomarker for diagnosis of stage 1 cancer, in the prognostication in residual disease and a possible target for immunomodulation in chemoresistant OVCA patients |