Why do Oral Contraceptives Prevent Ovarian Cancer?

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2018-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Female

Summary

Use of oral contraceptives (OCs) reduces a woman's risk of ovarian cancer very significantly and the protective effect continues for at least 25 years after use of OCs is stopped; the mechanisms of how this occurs are not understood. We are proposing here to directly study the effect of OCs on the fallopian tube and inclusion cysts within the ovary - sites from which most ovarian cancers are thought to arise - in order to better understand the mechanistic basis for OC protection against ovarian cancer. We think the protection results from reduced cell proliferation. It will lay the foundation for further studies to ensure that the protection against ovarian cancer afforded by 'traditional' OCs is not lost with alterations in OC formulation, and, if possible, to guide development of OC formations to improve further on the protection afforded by OCs.

• Phase: Early Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University of Michigan; University of Southern California
• Collaborator: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Treatments: Contraceptive Agents; Contraceptives, Oral; Mestranol; Norethindrone; Norethindrone acetate, ethinyl estradiol, ferrous fumarate drug combination; Norinyl

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Premenopausal

• 30 and 45 years of age

• Scheduled to undergo a laproscopically conducted RR-BSO, risk reducing salpingectomy, salpingectomy for sterilization, or salpingectomy with hysterectomy for non-cancer related conditions

• Have at least one ovary

Exclusion Criteria:

• Past hysterectomy

• Past diagnosis of ovarian cancer

• Use of Tamoxifen, Raloxifene or hormone replacement therapy in the past 3 months

• Use of Chemotherapy in the last 6 months