Dania Al-Rimawi
Supervisor: Jason Dyck
Project: Testing a new drug to reduce ovarian cancer cell growth
"From fostering my professional development to providing the funding necessary to undertake this research, the opportunity to work on this project has been a true privilege and has further enhanced my passion for the field of women's health research."
Using a newly identified drug to reduce ovarian cancer cell growth
In Canada, ovarian cancer is among the top five most common causes of cancer-related deaths in women. It also has the highest mortality rate of cancers affecting the female reproductive system, resulting in approximately six deaths every day. This significant mortality rate strongly indicates a need for improved treatments.
Work by other labs has shown that a protein called Reactive Oxygen Species Modulator 1, or ROMO1, is expressed at very high levels in the energy-producing components of ovarian cancer cells. These elevated levels of ROMO1 are associated with rapid cancer cell growth and a severe reduction in overall survival.
Recently, we identified a drug that can inhibit ROMO1, termed Rxi-1, which has never been previously characterized. While Rxi-1 does not adversely affect normal function of many cell types, our preliminary data show that Rxi-1 can impair cancer cell growth. Therefore, the objective of this project is to validate that inhibiting ROMO1 using Rxi-1 is effective at reducing ovarian cancer cell growth and to identify how this occurs.
To do this, we will: 1) verify that Rxi-1 impairs ovarian cancer cell growth in a ROMO1-dependent manner (using cultured human ovarian cancer cell lines and measuring markers of growth control and/or cell death), and 2) determine the underlying mechanisms instigated by inhibition of ROMO1 to prevent cancer cell growth. Overall, we anticipate that this research may ultimately assist in the development of a novel treatment that improves health outcomes for women with ovarian cancer.
Dania Al-Rimawi was supervised by Jason Dyck and her summer studentship was funded by the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation. She is enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Molecular and Cellular Biology program.
