Ovarian germ cell tumor patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy and fertility-sparing surgery are likely to retain their menstrual function and reproductive ability, according to the largest and most comprehensive survey of survivors ever conducted.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have shown that hormone therapy can extend life in ovarian cancer patients, giving women a new alternative to chemotherapy.

Preliminary results of a randomized, international Phase II trial of VEGF Trap (aflibercept) show activity in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who had received three or four prior chemotherapy regimens and had become resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy agents.

A gene thought to be essential in helping chemotherapy kill cancer cells, may actually help them thrive. In a new study of chemo patients, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Ovarian Cancer Institute found that 70 percent of subjects whose tumors had mutations in the gene p53 were still alive after five years. Patients with normal p53 displayed only a 30 percent survival rate.

A combination of molecular-targeted therapy and hormonal therapy may be the most promising area of research for those seeking an effective treatment for ovarian cancer, according to a new review in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), the menopause treatment previously linked to breast cancer, may now also increase the risk of ovarian cancer. A British study has found those on HRT were more than 20 per cent more likely to develop ovarian cancer.

A study has found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT), a contested treatment for post-menopausal women that has already been linked to breast cancer, is also associated with ovarian cancer.

A new University of Michigan Medical School study sheds light on cell defects that lead to one common type of ovarian cancer and puts forth a promising new mouse model that already is being used for preclinical drug testing.

An RNA-binding protein that is overproduced in ovarian cancer may present a new target for diagnosis or treatment of ovarian and other cancers, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

One in three ovarian cancer patients in the U.S. fails to receive the recommended comprehensive surgical treatment, according to a study in the May 15, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study of hospital data from nine states found that women who were over 70, of African American or Hispanic race, or insured by Medicaid, were at greatest risk for undertreatment.

In North America, ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer and is the leading cause of death among women with gynecological cancer. The high mortality is in part due to the difficulty of detecting and diagnosing this condition at an early stage.