(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers have landed a $10-million federal grant to develop a new treatment for ovarian cancer. Jill Kolesar, dean of the U-I College of Pharmacy, is working on a drug that will make ovarian tumors more sensitive to immunotherapy by helping the immune system recognize cells around them. Kolesar says this could bring ovarian cancer treatment into the 21st century.

“Treatment paradigm for ovarian cancer has not changed in the last 30, 40 years,” Kolesar says. “We still use a doublet of chemotherapy, which has a lot of adverse effects and is not all that effective. Most people with ovarian cancer still die of their cancers.”

It’s estimated more than 12,000 women nationwide will die from ovarian cancer this year, according to federal data. Kolesar says ovarian cancer is often diagnosed in the late stages. “It kind of grows in your abdomen where there’s plenty of space and before it starts causing symptoms, it’s usually pretty big,” she says, “and the bigger cancers are, the later stage they are, the harder they are to treat.” She says the cancer is also often made of cells that hide from the immune system, making it hard to target and nearly always fatal.

The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.