image: Schematic demonstrating the principal steps of the procedure described in this study. Tumor cells shed from ovarian or endometrial cancers are carried into the endocervical canal. These cells can be captured by the brush used for performing a routine Pap smear. The brush contents are transferred into a liquid fixative, from which DNA is isolated. By means of massively parallel sequencing, this DNA is queried for mutations that indicate the presence of a malignancy in the female reproductive tract. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Jan. 9, 2013, issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The paper, by I. Kinde at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Md., and colleagues was titled, “Evaluation of DNA from the Papanicolaou Test to Detect Ovarian and Endometrial Cancers.” view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Elizabeth Cook