This test may be particularly useful for patients
with high grade serous ovarian cancer because the mutated cancer gene TP53 is found in more than 99 per cent of patients with this form of the disease.
In a study of 40 patients
with high grade serous ovarian cancer, the researchers monitored tumour DNA that could be detected in a blood sample taken before each chemotherapy treatment.
Not exact matches
Importantly, elevated BRCA1 methylation was confined to patients diagnosed
with so - called
high -
grade serous tumors, the most aggressive variant of ovarian cancer, which also is the variant associated
with BRCA1 mutations.
In the same report, the researchers replicated these findings in an independent validation study in which they found methylation among 9.1 % of patients
with high -
grade serous cancers versus 4.3 % among controls.
A section of a tumor organoid grown from cells derived from a patient
with high -
grade serous ovarian cancer (left) and a mini-tumor treated
with ReACp53, resulting in extensive cancer cell death.
But mutations, which are found in 96 percent of patients
with high -
grade serous ovarian tumors, can cause p53 to form clumps, or «aggregates,» which impair the protein's normal function.
More than 80 percent of women
with advanced stage
high -
grade serous ovarian cancer experience relapses even after repeated surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and this effective new approach to treat the disease could be a major step forward in preventing cancer from returning.
The finding applies to women
with the most common form of ovarian cancer - «
high -
grade serous» ovarian cancer.
Association and prognostic significance of BRCA1 / 2 - mutation status
with neoantigen load, number of tumor - infiltrating lymphocytes and expression of PD - 1 / PD - L1 in
high grade serous ovarian cancer.