CU Cancer Center News and Stories

People often tell Winona Williams that she’s brave, and she is. Ovarian cancer could easily become a dark cloud over her, shadowing every minute of every day.

Rachel Sauer | September 20, 2022

Three researchers from the University of Colorado Cancer Center have received grants from the V Foundation, a cancer research nonprofit founded in 1993 by college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who died of cancer.

Greg Glasgow | October 20, 2021

One of the most impactful advancements during the past decade in treating ovarian cancer is the use of PARP inhibitors (short for poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase). PARP inhibitors are a type of cancer drug that blocks the PARP enzyme from helping to repair DNA damage in cancer cells.

Rachel Sauer | September 13, 2021

After nearly four years of work, a group of researchers and clinicians from the University of Colorado (CU) published a paper this week in the Clinical Cancer Research that shares findings from research looking at how the composition of ovarian cancer tumors changes during chemotherapy and contributes to therapeutic response.

Cancer Center | September 15, 2020

In July 2019, Emily McClintock Addlesperger was on vacation in Maine with her husband, Jason, when she felt sick and was airlifted to Portland with internal bleeding. A tumor on her ovary had burst. It was Monday. On Saturday, she passed away. Emily was 44 years old.

Cancer Center | July 16, 2020

Most ovarian cancer starts in fallopian tubes. Then it sloughs from its site of origin and floats around in fluid until finding new sites of attachment. It’s not easy for cancer cells to survive away from their moorings. Observations by ovarian cancer doctors at University of Colorado Cancer Center and elsewhere hint at how they might do it: These doctors have seen that ovarian cancer cells often collect in tissues with high fat content. Could these cells be somehow using fat to survive the journey from their point of origin to their sites of growth? 

Cancer Center | March 26, 2020

Patients with recurrent, heavily pretreated ovarian cancer generally have few therapeutic options.  Phase 1 clinical trials are considered by some providers as a “last hope.” Historically, there has been concern that there is little clinical benefit to these trials and high concern of toxicity, as these are typically first in human studies. However, these worries may be unnecessary.  A University of Colorado Cancer Center study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago indicates that there are therapeutic benefits for ovarian cancer patients that enroll in Phase 1 clinical trials.  

Cancer Center | May 30, 2019