RENDER the ovarian tumor luminescent, to better remove it. The FDA has just approved a drug that does exactly that, and therefore could make surgeons’ work more efficient and precise. It is called pafolacyanin and is given intravenously before surgery.
Valeria’s story: “At 36, no one thought I had ovarian cancer”
by Tina Simoniello
The technique that reveals cancer cells
The ability of pafolacyanin to make malignant cells “shine” depends on the fact that this molecule binds to a protein, a folate receptor, which is particularly expressed on ovarian cancer cells. Once this drug-protein bond is established, by exposing it to fluorescent light, the pafolacyanin illuminates, and with it the cancer cells to which it is linked: a technique that has been shown to increase the ability to identify and remove tumor lesions that could escape. to the naked eye. To the advantage of the surgeons, who can thus count on a sort of guide, but above all of the patients.
Ovarian cancer: blood tests and ultrasound scans do not save life. “Women watch out for symptoms”
by Tina Simoniello
A difficult disease
Ovarian cancer is the most aggressive of all cancers of the female reproductive system. In Italy, 49,800 women live with this diagnosis, and 5,200 are those who get sick every year. The survival of these patients at 5 years is 40%: a not high rate due above all to the lack of screening or prevention tools for this tumor, which is sneaky because it does not give signals. Symptoms of ovarian cancer (abdominal swelling or pain, need to urinate often, constipation or digestive difficulties), can in fact be confused with much more common and much less serious ailments. All this means that in 80% of cases the diagnosis reaches the III or IV stage, that is when the cancer is now at an advanced stage. With negative effects on the prognosis.
Genes are needed to save the ovary
by Tiziana Moriconi
I study
Treatment of ovarian cancer consists of surgery, which aims to remove as much of the tumor as possible, and various drug therapies. Today, surgeons use preoperative imaging and, during surgery, visual inspection in normal light to identify the tissue to be removed. “The purpose of ovarian cancer surgery is the complete removal of all malignant tissue, but identifying all lesions can be difficult,” said Janos L. Tanyi, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and author of the studies that tested the new intraoperative imaging technique, just authorized in the USA. Tanyi and her colleagues evaluated pafolacyanin in 134 adult women (aged 33 to 81 years) with a confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cancer or with a strong suspicion of the disease. Well, 27% of patients treated with the drug had at least one cancerous lesion that had escaped the naked eye or touch. “This technique helps identify lesions that may be difficult to find especially in the presence of scar tissue or other organ damage and allows for more complete identification and surgical removal of the tumor that would otherwise not be possible,” explains Tanyi. L goal is also to save healthy tissue.
When cancer affects women: in Italy there are almost two million
The possible false positives and negatives
However, the new intraoperative imaging technique is not free from false positives or false negatives. As reported by the same manufacturers of pafolacyanin, On Target Laboratories, which funded the research conducted at Pennsylvania University, sometimes even non-cancerous cells can light up, or cancer cells may not ‘turn on’. In addition, cells, cancerous or non-cancerous, from other areas, such as the intestines, kidneys, lymph nodes, and inflamed tissue, may light up.
Image: National Cancer Institute via Unsplash
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