A Novel Platform for Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis and Screening
Abstract
Over 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and over 14,000 will die from their disease each year in the United States, making it the fifth leading cause of cancer related death in women. When ovarian cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, 5-year survival is over 90%. Unfortunately, as early-stage disease is often asymptomatic and there is no effective screening test, most women diagnosed with ovarian cancer have late-stage disease, resulting in a much lower 5-year survival of 30%. If there was an effective way to screen and diagnose ovarian cancer early, this could allow us to cure more women with ovarian cancer. As such, developing a screening test for ovarian cancer has been a “holy grail” for ovarian cancer scientists. Regrettably, while there have been many attempts to develop a test to screen for ovarian cancer, none have been effective. However, new research suggests that DNA released from cancer cells and the surrounding tissues can be isolated from a patient’s blood, and this DNA can be used to create an effective screening test for ovarian cancer. The goal of this project is to use a special marker of this circulating tumor DNA, called methylation, to make a highly sensitive and specific test that could be used for screening and early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. This work will involve collecting blood samples from women without cancer, with cancer, with non-cancerous ovarian masses, and those with a genetic predisposition to cancer to develop and refine the test so it can differentiate between these different groups. If successful, this test could revolutionize about ability to detect and treat ovarian cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2110346
Entities
People
- Ronald Buckanovich
Organizations
- UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
- United States Army