The world’s first vaccine for ovarian cancer – being developed in the UK – could completely eliminate the deadly disease that kills thousands of women across the globe every year, according to researchers from the University of Oxford.

Scientists say they are creating OvarianVax - a vaccine that would help the immune system to recognize and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer - that develops in the ovaries or nearby structures like the fallopian tubes or abdominal lining. According to experts, they hope the jab will be given to women as a preventive measure against this cancer to wipe it off completely. Researchers say it would work similarly to the human papillomavirus or HPV jab – which is on track to stamp out cervical cancer.

HPV jabs are being given to secondary school children – both boys and girls – and those high risk of the virus, cutting their risk of getting conditions linked to HPV - including cervical cancer and genital warts.

A team of scientists from the University, led by Dr. Ahmed Ahmed, director of the ovarian cancer cell laboratory at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, are working to identify cellular targets for their ovarian cancer vaccine.

They are working on establishing proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells which can easily be identified by the immune system – and kill mini-models of ovarian cancer in the lab. The scientists hope to move on to human clinical trials in people with BRCA gene mutations - which massively doubles the risk of ovarian cancer - and healthy women in the general population to see if the disease could be prevented.

The study is currently being funded by Cancer Research, UK for the next three years.

Dr. Ahmed said that, if the vaccine is successful, he would expect to start seeing an impact within the next five years. "Absolutely - that would be the aim. We still have a long way to go but it is a really exciting time. I'm very optimistic myself," he said. "The idea is, if you give the vaccine, these tiny tumours will hopefully either reduce, shrink really significantly, or disappear. That would give us the sign that the vaccine is working,” Dr. Ahmed added.

According to experts, at present there is no screening test for ovarian cancer – making it difficult to diagnose in the early stages – when it can be treated through chemotherapy, radiation, or even surgery. However, most symptoms of this cancer often get detected in later stages – when symptoms like bloating and no appetite – which are often vague, are caught by doctors and tests.

Studies say women with BRCA mutations are at high risk. Almost 45 per cent of those with an altered BRCA1 gene and almost 20 per cent with an altered BRCA2 gene will develop ovarian cancer by the age of 80, compared with just 2 per cent in the general population.

At present, women with BRCA1 or 2 alterations are recommended to have their ovaries removed by the age of 35 years - which makes them go through early menopause, and no chance of having children.

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