Funding outcome

Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for women, and many patients see their treatments stop working over time. A key reason for this is that cancer cells can 'fix' themselves by repairing damaged DNA, allowing them to survive therapies like PARP inhibitors (a common treatment). This project focuses on understanding how a protein called MAEA helps cancer cells repair their DNA and how blocking MAEA could make these treatments effective again. We discovered that MAEA acts like a repair tool for cancer cells, helping them mend DNA damage. When MAEA is removed, cancer cells become vulnerable to PARP inhibitors again. However, some cells still survive by using backup repair methods. Our goal is to: 1) Test whether blocking MAEA can reverse treatment resistance in aggressive ovarian cancer. 2) Identify the backup repair tricks cancer cells use when MAEA is missing. 3) Preclinical xenograft models will validate MAEA depletion as a strategy to resensitize tumors to PARPi. By studying how MAEA influences DNA repair, we aim to create smarter treatments that exploit hidden weaknesses in resistant cancers. This could lead to more effective, long-lasting therapies for patients with ovarian cancer and potentially other cancers that develop similar resistance.