01 July 2021
The University of South Australia will lead a world-first study, using artificial intelligence, to map the risks of the most fatal reproductive cancer in women worldwide so it can be detected and treated earlier.
Internationally-renowned nutritional epidemiologist Professor Elina Hypponen and a team from UniSA’s Australian Centre for Precision Health and SAHMRI have been awarded $1.2 million by the Federal Government to map the genetic and physical risks of ovarian cancer, based on the health records of 273,000 women from the UK Biobank database.
A machine learning model, which automatically analyses the data to identify patterns of risk, is expected to predict which women will develop ovarian cancer in the next 15 years.
Ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed very late due to vague symptoms and few known causes, with a five-year survival rate of less than 30 per cent for women with late-stage cancer.
Genes, diet and lifestyle come into play and the researchers say a computational approach will narrow down those most at risk.
“With an early diagnosis, we can notably improve survival rates from ovarian cancer,” Prof Hypponen says. “If we can identify women who are at greatest risk, we can triage them for more intense screening, improving early detection and prognosis.”
The four-year project will pinpoint which factors can either increase or reduce the risks of ovarian cancer, with a special focus on metabolomics, the small molecules involved in breaking down fats for energy.
Scientists believe that changes in lipid metabolism are biomarkers for ovarian cancer and they will also explore hormonal data and blood biomarkers to better predict the risks.
“We know that age, endometriosis, obesity and ovulation are risk factors, and there has been great interest in seeing if these risks might be modified using hormones or other medications, such as oral contraceptives or aspirin.
“There is also some research to suggest that we might even be able to modify ovarian cancer risk through diet,” Prof Hypponen says.
“Globally, this is the first and largest study of ovarian cancer to include such a comprehensive analysis of risk factors. We believe we can make significant headway in a very short time into the causes, detection and prevention of ovarian cancer,” Prof Hypponen says.
Notes for editors
The project funds are awarded by the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
Professor Elina Hyppönen is published in multiple highly cited papers which are ranked among the top 1 per cent of papers in the field globally, Clarivate, Web of Science, Data retrieved 01-07-21
The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database, containing in-depth genetic and health information from 500,000 UK participants between 2010-2016. It is globally accessible to approved scientists undertaking vital research into the most common and life-threatening diseases
Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer in women worldwide, with nearly 300,000 new global cases in 2018, according to a research paper published in Annals of Oncology.
Cancer Australia says that 1532 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020 and 1068 women died from the disease in the same year. That equates to three women dying every day in Australia from ovarian cancer. Of those diagnosed, 60 per cent are aged 60 or over, and 33 per cent of women are aged 40-59 years.
Contact for interview: Professor Elina Hypponen email elina.hypponen@unisa.edu.au
Media contact: Candy Gibson office (08) 8302 0961 mobile: 0434 605 142
email: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au
