Ovarian cancer
Metabolic profiles distinguish early stage ovarian cancer with unprecedented accuracy
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Studying blood serum compounds of different molecular weights has led scientists to a set of biomarkers that may enable development of a highly accurate screening test for early-stage ovarian cancer.
Using advanced liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques coupled with machine learning computer algorithms, researchers have identified 16 metabolite compounds that provided unprecedented accuracy in distinguishing 46 women with early-stage ovarian cancer from a control group of 49 women who did not have the disease. Blood samples for the study were collected from a broad geographic area - Canada, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
While the set of biomarkers reported in this study are the most accurate reported thus far for early-stage ovarian cancer, more extensive testing across a larger population will be needed to determine if the high diagnostic accuracy will be maintained across a larger group of women representing a diversity of ethnic and racial groups.
Fluid from Pap test used to detect ovarian, endometrial cancers
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Using cervical fluid collected from routine Pap smears, U.S. researchers were able to spot genetic changes caused by both ovarian and endometrial cancers, offering promise for a new kind of screening test for these deadly cancers.
Experts say that although the test has tremendous potential, it is still years from widespread use. But if proven effective with more testing, it would fill a significant void.
Currently, there are no tests that can reliably detect either ovarian or endometrial cancer, which affects the uterine lining. Research teams have been trying for several years to find a screening test that could identify these cancers early, when there is a better chance of a cure.
Study reveals genomic similarities between breast cancer and ovarian cancers
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One subtype of breast cancer shares many genetic features with high-grade serous ovarian cancer, a cancer that is very difficult to treat, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that the two cancers are of similar molecular origin, which may facilitate the comparison of therapeutic data for subtypes of breast and ovarian cancers.
The researchers, using data generated as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), described new insights into the four standard molecular subtypes based on a comprehensive characterization of samples from 825 breast cancer patients.
The study, a collaborative effort funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), both part of NIH, was published online Sept. 23, 2012, and in print Oct. 4, 2012, in the journal Nature.
“TCGA’s comprehensive characterization of their high-quality samples allows researchers an unprecedented look at these breast cancer subgroups,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Avastin Slows Resistant Ovarian Cancer
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Progression of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer slowed by more than 50% in patients who received bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy compared with nonplatinum chemotherapy alone, results of a randomized trial showed.
Median progression-free survival (PFS) increased from 3.4 months with chemotherapy to 6.7 months with chemotherapy and bevacizumab.
The objective response rate more than doubled with the addition of the angiogenesis inhibitor, Eric Pujade-Lauraine, MD, of Hopital Hotel-Dieu in Paris, reported here at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting.
Tiny ovarian tumors lurk for years, study finds
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Tiny ovarian tumors lurk in the Fallopian tubes for an average of four years before they grow large enough to be detected, researchers reported on Monday in a study that explains why diagnosis usually comes too late to save a woman’s life.
They said they were trying to find ways to improve testing for the cancer, one of the deadliest because it is so hard to detect before it has spread.
“Reliable early detection would save so many more lives than many new blockbuster anticancer drugs,” Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher Dr. Patrick Brown of Stanford University in California, who led the study, said in a statement.
Two Reproductive Factors are Important Predictors of Death from Ovarian Cancer
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Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that survival among women with ovarian cancer is influenced by age of menarche and total number of lifetime ovulatory cycles.
This finding suggests that hormonal activity over the course of a woman’s lifetime may influence the prognosis after an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Results of this study are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Results of previous studies indicated that fewer lifetime ovulatory cycles, higher parity, oral contraceptive use, hysterectomy and tubal ligation are associated with decreased risk of developing this form of cancer, according to the researchers. However, little is known about the influence of these factors on a patient’s survival after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Why African-Americans Fare Worse with Some Cancers
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An analysis of almost 20,000 patient records from the Southwest Oncology Group’s database of clinical trials finds, for the first time, that African-American breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer patients tend to die earlier than patients of other races even when they get identical medical treatment and other confounding socioeconomic factors are controlled for. The finding points to biological or host genetic factors as the potential source of the survival gap.
“When you look at the dialogue about the issue of race and cancer survival that’s gone on over the years,” says the paper’s lead author, Kathy Albain, M.D., a breast and lung cancer specialist at Loyola University’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, “it always seems to come down to general conclusions that African-Americans may in part have poorer access to quality treatment, may be diagnosed in later stages, and may not have the same standard of care delivered as Caucasian patients, leading to a disparity in survival.”
The study, which will be published online by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) on July 7, found that when treatment was uniform and differences in tumor prognostic factors, demographics, and socioeconomic status were controlled, there was in fact no statistically significant difference in survival based on race for a number of other cancers—lung, colon, lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma.
Ovarian tissue transplant may restore fertility
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Even after highly concentrated cancer treatment of the ovaries, long-term ovarian function and fertility can be restored by repeated ovarian transplant with tissue taken from the patient before treatment, researchers in Korea and the US report in the current issue Fertility and Sterility.
In frozen ovarian tissue, a lack of oxygen after ovarian grafting causes a substantial loss of follicles, shortening the life span of the tissue, so repeated transplantation may be required, Dr. S. Samuel Kim at the University of Kansas, Kansas City, and his co-investigators note.
Until now, the authors note, no successful pregnancies after transplantation have been reported.
Ovarian changes may link obesity and infertility
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Obese women have alterations in the environment around the ovary before they ovulate that appear to play a role in the well-documented association between obesity and reduced fertility, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
“Characteristics of eggs are influenced by the environment in which they develop within the ovary,” lead author Dr. Rebecca Robker, from Adelaide University, Australia, said in a statement. “Our study found that obese women have abnormally high levels of fats and inflammation in the fluid surrounding their eggs, which can impact an egg’s developmental potential.”
At-risk screening not advised for ovarian cancer
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Women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are at increased risk for ovarian cancer, but new research indicates that annual screening exams are not worthwhile as they do not help detect the cancer at an early stage.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 belong to a class of genes called tumor suppressors. Both genes encode proteins that help to repair damaged chromosomes. With a mutation in the genes, the proteins cannot perform this job effectively and, therefore, genetic damage persists that may give way to uncontrolled cell growth, also known as cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are also well known for their association with breast cancer.
One option for women with a proven BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation is to choose screening “with the main objective to identify ovarian cancer in an early stage to improve prognosis and reduce morbidity and mortality,” write Dr. Geertruida H. de Bock and colleagues at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Surgery can lower cancer risk in high-risk brca1/2 carriers
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Removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes, a surgical procedure referred to as salpingo-oophorectomy, in women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, can lower their risk of breast cancer by about 50 percent and their risk of ovarian or fallopian tube cancer by roughly 80 percent, suggest the results of a review of 10 published studies.
Prior research has shown that this procedure can help prevent breast, ovarian, and fallopian tube malignancies in these high-risk patients, but the magnitude of the risk reduction was unclear, lead author Dr. Timothy R. Rebbeck, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues explain.
To investigate, the research team searched PubMed, a large medical database, for studies that examined breast or gynecologic cancer outcomes in BRCA mutation carriers who underwent salpingo-oophorectomy. Data from 10 studies were included in the review, also referred to as a meta-analysis.
Minimizing Obesity’s Impact on Ovarian Cancer Survival
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Obesity affects health in several ways, but new research shows obesity can have minimal impact on ovarian cancer survival. A study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center found ovarian cancer survival rates are the same for obese and non-obese women if their chemotherapy doses are closely matched to individual weight.
The findings contradict earlier research that shows obese women have lower ovarian cancer survival rates compared to non-obese patients. In the UAB study, such survival disparity disappeared when chemo doses were calculated by actual body weight rather than a different dosing standard, said Kellie Matthews, M.D., a UAB gynecologic oncologist and lead author on the new study.
“Often chemotherapy dosing is calculated using ‘ideal’ body weight as a guide. We found using actual body weight works best, and it wipes away much of the difference in survival rates between obese and non-obese patients,” Matthews said.
Ovarian cancer risk lower with longer time on Pill
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For each year that a woman takes an oral contraceptive, her risk of ovarian cancer is reduced by about 5 percent on average, report investigators from the University of Hawaii.
The reduction in ovarian cancer risk becomes apparent after a short time since first use (five years or less) and a short duration of use (one year), note Dr. Galina Lurie and colleagues.
Lurie, with the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and her colleagues identified these protective effects after studying data on 813 women with epithelial ovarian cancer and 992 women without ovarian cancer.
