Types Of Blood Cancer
Blood tests target ovarian cancer Blood tests target ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer claims the lives of around 114,000 women annually. No accurate screening test for ovarian cancer exists. In a study recently released by the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL, scientists have found that a biomarker for ovarian cancer--lysophosphatidic acid or LPA--could be used in blood tests to detect the cancer in its early stages with 93% accuracy. An LPA-based ovarian-cancer blood-screening test must be close to 100% accurate before it could be used.
A high percentage of ovarian cancer found in early stages is curable; unfortunately, ovarian cancer is most frequently not discovered until the patient is in advanced stages because the cancer occurs with few symptoms. Survival rates may be improved by a simple blood test that will reveal which patients may develop a resistance to chemotherapy drugs. A Glasgow University professor told a cancer conference in mid-May that the body can switch off genes that enable chemotherapy to kill cancer cells if the tumor reappears after initial treatment: "We're using the blood test in ovarian-cancer patients to look at mechanisms of how tumors become resistant to chemotherapy and to show associations with patient survival following chemotherapy."
Genetic changes--gene methylation--have been detected by blood tests in other types of cancer. Patients not acquiring methylation of a particular gene survive longer. An international trial of the test in 500 ovarian-cancer patients found signs of gene methylation. "By switching these genes back on, you will sensitize the tumors to chemotherapy," says the professor, adding that it is important to identify the patients who could benefit from demethylating agents--that turn the genetic switch back on--given alongside chemotherapy after a relapse.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Nelson Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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