Welcome to OCRA's Research Exchange, a new way to connect patients, researchers, and data to accelerate gynecologic cancer research. Explore research shaped by real patient experiences, stay current on key findings, validate insights, and discover opportunities for collaboration.
AI-collated, expert-reviewed summaries of the latest open access gynecologic research. Each digest matches the areas of interest for patients, advocates, researchers, and clinicians, then validates findings against the broader literature. New voices and timely results surface here as the field moves.
Ovarian
2026
September 2026
This Month in Ovarian Cancer
September's ovarian cancer research was full of practical questions about how to use the tools we already have. Studies refined who benefits most from PARP inhibitor maintenance, tested in a small trial whether one of them could replace chemotherapy before surgery (it could not), and looked closely at the side effects and costs of newer treatments for recurrent disease. Several papers focused on diagnosis, from ultrasound rules that help tell harmless masses from cancer to blood tests still in development, and on less common subtypes such as low-grade serous and clear cell carcinoma. For…
September's research on uterine and endometrial cancer was rich in long-term results and practical guidance. The biggest headline came from the RUBY trial: after about four years, adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy continues to keep cancer under control for many people whose tumors have a feature called mismatch repair deficiency. Molecular testing of tumors kept moving from the lab into everyday decisions about surgery and treatment, and several studies looked at weight, insulin resistance, and earlier detection. The month also brought patient-centered work on quality of life,…
A curated stream from the OCRA community: patient stories, researcher updates, and cross-disciplinary highlights chosen to spark connection and conversation.
Open To Collaborate
"If we can detect this early, that means increased lifetime for this patient."
Kelvin Mutua, a second-year PhD student in Kenya, builds cancer risk and survival models but lacks local cancer data. He seeks collaborators on gynecologic cancer outcomes, open data access, mentorship, and routes to policy and practice. He brings an end-to-end aflatoxin early warning system he hopes to extend to cancer.
Pooling 18 consortium studies (14,600+ women), Dr. Melissa Merritt’s team separated Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women from Asian women. They found about 1.6 times higher mortality risk (roughly 2x in high-grade serous), versus 1.3 for Black women. Cause unknown; she seeks Pacific cohorts.
News from the 2026 International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) Annual Global Meeting
IGCS 2026 (Montreal, Oct 1–3) highlighted five advances: ubamatamab, a bispecific antibody, showed benefit in about 3 of 4 patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer (11 patients). GARNET showed durable six-year responses to dostarlimab in dMMR endometrial cancer. Rina-S, CUSP06 (ADCs), and rezatapopt (oral, TP53 Y220C) each shrank tumors in about half of patients.
Stories told through the data: each atlas walks through one study's findings with interactive charts.
Atlas
Postmenopausal Fallopian Tube and Ovary Atlas
A single-cell atlas of the postmenopausal fallopian tube and ovary (Lengyel et al., 2022): stromal cells dominate both tissues, epithelial cells are a small minority of the tube, and gene expression and chromatin describe the same cellular makeup.
Single-cell sequencing of normal fallopian tube epithelium (Hu et al., 2020): the cells from which serous ovarian cancer arises already come in distinct states, a reference for measuring the variability within tumors that tracks survival.
Uboveja et al. (Nature, 2026): ovarian cancer cells that repair DNA well rely on carnitine made from αKG to acetylate their histones, and cutting off that supply makes them vulnerable to PARP inhibitors.
McPherson et al. (Nature, 2025): whole-genome doubling keeps happening as ovarian tumors grow, and doubled tumors form more micronuclei yet switch off the cGAS–STING alarm that would expose them to the immune system.
Highlighted datasets from the Discovery Lab, inviting you to explore new data as it gets added.
Dataset
A single-cell atlas of the aging mouse ovary (Isola et al. 2024, Nature Aging)
A 2024 study titled "A single-cell atlas of the aging mouse ovary," frequently discussed in relevant literature, provides a comprehensive map of transcriptomic changes in ovaries from young (3-month) and reproductively aged (9-month) mice. The atlas reveals a doubling of immune cells (particularly lymphocytes) and enhanced fibrotic pathways in aged mice.
The MSK Endometrial Cancer Ancestry Cohort (msk_ec_anc) study, published in Cancer Discovery in 2023, is a comprehensive genomic analysis of 1,882 endometrial cancer patients aimed at understanding the molecular basis of racial disparities in endometrial cancer survival.
This study analyzes 69 metastatic endometrial cancer samples, identifying ERBB2 (HER2) pathogenic mutations as defining a distinct, often non-amplified subgroup (84% of cases) characterized by low HER2 expression (0/1+ in 66% of cases) and high co-occurrence with MSI-High/POLE subtypes.
Cellular heterogeneity of human fallopian tubes in normal and hydrosalpinx disease states
Cellular heterogeneity of human fallopian tubes in normal and hydrosalpinx disease states (Ulrich et al., 2022) presents a single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the human fallopian tube (FT) in both healthy and diseased states.
Sharing Data Saves Lives. Join the Research Community.
The Research Exchange is a collaborative platform that connects patients, researchers, clinicians, and advocates through a single, global hub — enabling gynecologic cancer research to move faster from discovery to patient care.
September's cervical cancer research ranged from long-term questions about treatment to the practical work of reaching women who have never been screened. For people with advanced or recurrent disease, studies explored new drug combinations matched to tumor genetics, the best timing for immunotherapy alongside chemoradiation, and a blood test that may one day flag a returning cancer early. Prevention research was especially strong: real-world data from Brazil showed falling rates of precancer and cancer among young women a decade after HPV vaccination began, and several studies showed how…
Vaginal cancer is one of the rarest gynecologic cancers, so new research arrives in small steps, and every study carries extra weight for the community that has waited for answers. September's work stretched from prevention to survivorship. A nationwide Swedish study showed that most people with vaginal cancer receive guideline-based care, but women aged 80 and older are often treated less intensively and have much poorer survival. For vaginal precancer, modern image-guided internal radiation controlled disease well with manageable side effects, and an early immunotherapy trial produced a…
Turning Experience Into Progress: One Patient's Role in Advancing Uterine Cancer Research
Zenia Dacio-Mesina was diagnosed with stage 4 uterine leiomyosarcoma after years of dismissed symptoms. The rare cancer upended her life — 65 infusions, daily medications, and a son who had to grow up too soon. Her story shows why registries like OCRA's Living Lab matter: capturing not just clinical data, but the full human cost of disease.
A conversation with Leigh Pearce, PhD, MPH, Principal Investigator of the Living Lab
OCRA’s Living Lab, a national registry of ovarian and uterine cancer survivors, has enrolled 700+ participants in five months. PI Leigh Pearce says standardized data lets researchers skip years of recruiting. Priorities are registry-based recruitment and EHR linkage, with a goal of 10,000 participants in five years.
Diagnosed on Thanksgiving Day at 30, no health insurance, stage four by the time treatment started — Rebecca is alive because of research. Now she's paying it forward. Here's why she believes every ovarian and uterine cancer survivor should join OCRA's Living Lab.
Why We Built the Community Accelerated Research Exchange
When OCRA asked its scientific community what it would take to cure ovarian cancer, the answers pointed in every direction—and that unexpected result changed everything.
Living Lab Testimonial: Kevin Holcomb, MD, Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwell Health
“Your experience is power.” A gynecologic oncologist explains why OCRA's Living Lab registry is different — patients stay connected, see how their data is used, and get information back. Here's why he'd tell every patient: sign up.
Highlights: OCRA’s 2026 International Gynecologic Cancer Conference
OCRA’s 2026 International Gynecologic Cancer Conference drew 2,180+ attendees from 83 countries. Sessions covered ovarian, endometrial, cervical, and rare cancers, with highlights on survivorship, clinical trials, recurrence management, and difficult conversations. Most sessions are on OCRA’s YouTube channel.
A menopause-focused nutrition expert explains how hormonal changes increase risks for heart disease, diabetes, bone loss, and weight gain, and shared practical ways to stay healthy. Key recommendations included a plant-forward, high-fiber diet, adequate protein, regular exercise, good sleep, and personalized nutrition counseling to improve long-term health and quality of life.
Patients and families living with gynecologic cancers draw hope from the work you do every day, and they want to hear about it from you. Share a short video, made on your phone, about who you are and why your research matters. It could remind someone that people are working on their behalf.
Ovarian cancer emerges from a constantly evolving ecosystem of cells. The MSK SPECTRUM project is one of the most ambitious efforts to map that evolution in the clinical setting by studying patients over time. This work combines single-cell genomics with mathematical models of evolutionary processes to understand how tumors adapt, resist therapy, and interact with the immune system.
Kader et al. (Cancer Discovery, 2025): chromosomal instability and interferon signaling are already present in the lesions that precede high-grade serous ovarian cancer, and the immune environment shifts from surveillance to suppression as they advance.
What the TCGA PanCancer Atlas shows about gynecologic cancers: ovarian cancer breaks its genome by gaining and losing chromosome segments rather than by mutation, unlike much of endometrial cancer.
Research from Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) between 2022 and 2023 reveals that mismatch repair deficient (MMRd) endometrial cancer is heterogeneous, with prognosis and immunotherapy response driven by whether the deficiency is caused by genetic mutations (better prognosis) or epigenetic silencing (worse prognosis).
Scientific and patient conferences and events shaping the gynecologic cancer community in the months ahead. Hover the list to spotlight an event on the map, or zoom the map to filter the schedule.
