And new diagnostic test for ovarian cancer could detect the disease well before current methodsthus increasing the patient’s chances of survival. The result of the new study, conducted inPeking Universitywas published in the magazine Cell Reports Medicine. It is a test based on seven chemical substances present in the uterine fluid that has surpassed the main tool currently in use for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, a disease that is often fatal precisely because of frequent late diagnoses.
Il epithelial ovarian cancerin itself, is a very insidious pathology: it is asymptomatic for most of its course, so when you go to a doctor, it has usually already reached an advanced stage. Which makes it difficult to cure. Currently, a specific blood test is used to diagnose ovarian cancer to look for a protein called “CA125“, which, however, is not always successful.
The experiment
To develop a more effective test, the research team led by Peking University Professor Pan Wang has collected the uterine fluid of 219 women suffering from cancersome in early stage, some with advanced ovarian cancer, some with benign ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer. THEUterine fluid contains cells and metabolic products (or metabolites) coming from the ovaries and fallopian tubes. Using ad hoc chemical instruments, i.e. mass spectrometers, the researchers have then examined the fluid of 96 women to identify those with already high levels of metabolites, to separate them from those with early stage ovarian cancer.
Experts have identified a group of seven substancesincluding amino acids
tyrosine e phenylalanine, which could be used for early diagnosis. Then they analyzed the fluids of the remaining 123 women for these seven metabolites and also performed the classic CA125 test. The new exam accurately identified the majority of women with early stage ovarian cancer e proved to be much more effective than the CA125 test in diagnosing ovarian cancer at an earlier stage. The results are promising, but the test needs to be validated in a larger group of people, by comparing the presence and concentration profile of the seven substances also
in healthy women to exclude the risk of false positives.