New hope for early detection of ovarian cancer?
Ovarian cancer is often only discovered when there are already metastases and treatment is difficult.
CRIG researchers have now shown that the cancer can be detected by analyzing the RNA in an easy to obtain liquid biopsy.
In more than 75% of cases, ovarian cancer is only detected when the disease has spread and can no longer be treated (properly). That's because the disease is largely asymptomatic at an early stage. However, if diagnosed early, the disease can be treated very well. Researchers have therefore been looking for ways to detect ovarian cancer as quickly as possible.
Because so far, studies in blood have not been really successful, the CRIG researchers from the group of Prof. Pieter Mestdagh & Prof. Jo Vandesompele opted for a new approach. They studied utero-tubal lavage fluid, a fluid obtained by rinsing the uterus with a saline solution. Such a lavage can be easily performed during a routine examination at the gynaecologist. In collaboration with Prof. Keren Levanon (University of Chiba, Israel), they collected samples from healthy women and women with ovarian cancer. Afterwards, they used advanced molecular techniques to map the RNA molecules present in these utero-tubal samples.
We found several RNA molecules that were noticeably more present in patients with ovarian cancer compared to healthy women. These RNA molecules could potentially be used to detect the disease.
Dr. Eva Hulstaert, researcher in the Mestdagh & Vandesompele lab
The researchers emphasize that their results represent a first step in the search for a new test for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Further studies in additional samples are needed to confirm the results and evaluate the clinical applicability.
This study proves that mapping RNA molecules is not only relevant in blood or urine, but also in other body fluids, a hitherto unexplored field of research, in which Pieter Mestdagh and Jo Vandesompele are pioneers.
The results of this study were published in the journal Neoplasia.