Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend, the town of Vernon and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
UW research brings hope for ovarian cancer
I was pleased to attend a presentation today by the Wisconsin Ovarian Cancer Alliance in the Senate Parlor at the state Capitol that brought exciting news. The University of Wisconsin Medical School is on the cutting edge of ovarian cancer research.
Presenters included Manish Patankar and Joseph Connor, both Assistant Professors at the UW Medical School Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The school received a two-year pilot study grant during June from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to fine tune research on the cancer 125 (CA-125) molecule. Obtaining the grant is noteworthy since the NIH rejects about 90 percent of grant applications received.
The CA-125 molecule is a large molecule made on the surface of cancer cells that sheds into the bloodstream. UW researchers made the discovery that CA-125 attaches or sticks onto immune cells in the body. A healthy immune cell can suppress a cancer cell. CA 125 is seen in pelvic disorders.
Ovarian cancer patients have donated blood and tissue, allowing researchers to analyze CA-125 and learn more about its functions inside the body. UW researchers want to create an antibody therapy that will target CA-125 molecules stuck on ovarian cancer cells.
More than 21,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer annually, and more than 15,000 women die from the disease each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
I commend Professors Patankar and Connor for their dedication to saving women’s lives and wish them continued success.
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