In 2008, the National Health Service in the UK started providing a vaccination against HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, to teenage girls. Subsequently, the programme was extended to teenage boys too.

In the years since, cases of this type of cancer have been reduced by 90% among those who have had the immunisation, leading to hope among scientists that the disease will be eradicated very soon.

With the incredible success of this programme, scientists across the world are racing to develop vaccinations against other forms of cancer too, with an immunisation against ovarian cancer recently taking a huge step forward.

Another cancer affecting women and those assigned female at birth, ovarian cancer is a problem across the world, with over 12,000 women dying from the condition in the US every year. Due to a range of factors – including symptoms that could be attributed to a range of conditions, and the challenges involved in treating it – survival rates are relatively low.

Like cervical cancer, the most common causative factors of ovarian cancer have long been known; now, scientists are working on ways to stop these gene mutations from causing so many deaths every year.

Thanks to a grant of almost $800,000 from Cancer Research UK, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK are hard at work developing the vaccination, known as OvarianVax, as Sky News first reported.

The disease is caused by mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. When these genes carry mutations – often hereditary – women are more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancers, with the change of developing ovarian cancer increased by 43% over the woman’s lifetime.

Until now, the key way of preventing ovarian or breast cancer in women carrying mutated forms of these genes is the removal of the breasts and ovaries – major surgery that, with the removal of vital body parts, can lead to mental and physical health issues (when breasts are removed) and induces early menopause (when the ovaries are removed).

Women carrying mutated BRCA genes have to make the difficult choice between a lifelong risk of cancer, and lifelong mental and physical health ramifications. This is not a choice that any of us would welcome, as Professor Ahmed Ahmed – who is leading on the OvarianVax project – stated in an interview with Forbes:

“We need better strategies to prevent ovarian cancer. Women with BRCA1/2 mutations, who are at very high risk, are offered surgery which prevents cancer but robs them of the chance to have children afterwards.”

In developing the vaccine, initially to be used on women with the faulty gene, the researchers are isolating the common mutations. The vaccine will teach the immune system to recognize the mutations in the proteins that are produce by the mutated cells, so it can respond accordingly.

Though this process sounds simple, it is extremely complicated, due to the numerous different ways in which cells can mutate – and the complexities of retraining the immune system to recognise cells that are mutating gradually within the body, rather than simply recognising a virus (as is the case with HPV).

In the interview, Professor Ahmed explained how the team were putting the grant to work in overcoming these challenges:

“Teaching the immune system to recognise the very early signs of cancer is a tough challenge. But we now have highly sophisticated tools which give us real insights into how the immune system recognises ovarian cancer.”

When the successful vaccine is administered, the immune system will target abnormal ovarian cells and destroy them before they have chance to develop into cancerous growths. It is hoped that this will allow women carrying the faulty BRCA gene to live in peace, without having to undergo life-changing surgery.

Though OvarianVax will have to undergo significant clinical trials before it is rolled out, Professor Ahmed is optimistic that the research will soon be helping women with the affected gene, and subsequently all women across the globe:

“OvarianVax could offer the solution to prevent cancer, firstly in women at high risk but also more widely if trials prove successful.”

Thanks to the scientists at the University of Oxford, this disease could be eradicated in the next few decades.

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