Novel blood test to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage shows promising results

A new blood test developed by researchers from Adelaide, Australia has the potential to diagnose early and late stage ovarian cancer. The test is engineered from a bacterial toxin and is highly effective in detecting levels of a specific biomarker released in blood by the tumor cells.

With lack of early-stage symptoms and no known definitive screening test, ovarian cancer is difficult to detect at early stages. However, it has a 90% five-year survival rate if detected early as opposed to only 20% five-year survival if detected at the later stages.

The research was published in the November issue of the Journal of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Human tumor cells undergo aberrant glycosylation and release N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc)-containing glycans in the bloodstream. The researchers from University of Adelaide and Griffith University noted that a subunit of toxin produced by Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli recognizes Neu5Gc containing glycans and can be used as a test to detect the abnormal glycans in sera of ovarian cancer patients.

The research team previously used a Neu5Gc-specific lectin, SubB2M, to enhance recognition of Neu5Gc-containing glycans but in the study, they utilized the optical detection technique of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to detect the binding between SubB2M and Neu5Gc in sera of cancer patients.

In a study involving 69 patients, which included 22 healthy patients and the rest were from all four stages of ovarian cancer, the team showed that Neu5Gc-containing tumor antigens have the potential to serve as diagnostic markers for detection of early-stage ovarian cancer.

Neu5Gc were increased in a majority of stage I/II ovarian cancer and is also uniformly elevated in stage IIIC and IV of ovarian cancer. The test showed a sensitivity of 90% for detection of ovarian cancer for stage I/II, that increased to 100% for stages III and IV of cancer.

“Ovarian cancer is notoriously difficult to detect in its early stages, when there are more options for treatment and survival rates are better. Our new test is, therefore, a potential game changer,” says Professor James Paton, Director of the University of Adelaide’s Research Centre for Infectious Diseases in a media release.

Ovarian cancer is responsible for more cancer deaths than any other cancer of female reproductive tract and ranks fifth in all cancer deaths among women. According to The American Cancer Society, about 22,240 women will receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and about 14,070 women will die from ovarian cancer in 2018.

The team is currently planning on more extensive studies and looking for commercial partners to bring the test into the market as early as possible.

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Ob/Gyn Updated Facebook page

Today is World Ovarian Cancer day, let’s join in to increase the awareness and save lives.

World Ovarian Cancer day is celebrated on May 8^th each year to save lives by increasing the awareness about this deadly disease.

Ovarian cancer has got the lowest survival rate and often diagnosed at very late stage among all gynecological malignancies. Ovarian Cancer day was first celebrated on May 8th, 2013 when cancer organization all around the world came together to educate the women about symptoms and signs of this malignancy.

Some facts about Ovarian Cancer:

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women worldwide (18 most common cancer overall), with 239,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012.

It is responsible for 140,000 deaths each year. Statistics show that just 45% of women with ovarian cancer are likely to survive for five years compared to up to 89% of women with breast cancer.

Fiji had the highest rate of ovarian cancer, followed by Latvia and Bulgaria.

The five-year prevalence of women globally living with ovarian cancer is 22.6 per 100,000.

Risk factors for developing ovarian cancer:

Age > 55 years, family history, known carrier of abnormalities in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, Nulliparity, never taken the contraceptive pill, long reproductive life span (early menarche and late menopause) and history of endometriosis.

Screening:

There is no “standard” screening test for asymptomatic, low-risk patients, and the only patient populations that should be recommended for ovarian cancer screening are patients with known BRCA germline mutations and women with family members who have had ovarian cancer or breast cancer.

Two common screening tests for high-risk patients include pelvic ultrasound and checking CA 125 levels. But CA 125 is elevated in only 50 percent of stage I ovarian cancers, and many other conditions can falsely elevate the levels, including endometriosis, liver disease and post abdominal surgery. Following a positive screening test, a diagnostic test is required. False positive tests lead to an increase in complications compared to usual follow up. In fact, there are no studies that show screening for ovarian cancer improves survival.

Symptoms:

Ovarian cancer does not have any early symptoms. Often the symptoms are common to other less serious conditions and are often overlooked.

Awareness about risk factors and family/genetic history is the key to clinch the diagnosis at early stage.

If a women experiences following symptoms on most days within a three-week period, she should be investigated: Change in bowel habits, frequent bloating, feeling full very quickly, abdominal or pelvic pain and increased urgency/frequency of urination.

Check out this excellent video by AstraZeneca on World Ovarian Cancer Day.