News Release

Northwestern researcher spearheads $5 million study to detect early-stage ovarian cancer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Northwestern University

CHICAGO --- Ovarian cancer is an insidious disease that kills more American women than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. Ovarian cancer often is called the "killer that whispers" because about 75 percent of women with the disease go undiagnosed until their cancer has progressed to an advanced, fatal stage. Most of these women die within five years.

But if their ovarian cancer is identified in its early stage, about 95 percent of patients will survive five years or more, will need less radical surgery and may not have to have chemotherapy.

To that end, Northwestern University Medical School researcher David A. Fishman, M.D., and a consortium of basic and clinical scientists and institutions have embarked on a study to improve current methods and evaluate other newly developed molecular, genetic and biochemical tests to detect early-stage ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women.

The five-year, $5 million, National Cancer Institute-sponsored study will be conducted at Northwestern and 17 other sites in the United States and Canada.

"A detailed knowledge of risk assessment and the specific molecular and biochemical interactions that regulate ovarian cancer can translate into the identification of novel biomarkers that will identify ovarian cancer in its early stages," said Fishman, who is principal investigator on the project.

Fishman is director of the Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Program at the Medical School and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He also is director of the gynecologic oncology research program at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Some of the early symptoms of ovarian cancer include a feeling of fullness or discomfort in the pelvic region; abdominal discomfort or swelling; pain during intercourse; and abnormal bleeding.

For the study, blood samples and a few ovarian surface cells will be obtained from two patient populations: women diagnosed with new or recurrent ovarian cancer and asymptomatic women at increased risk for developing ovarian cancer.

The blood samples will be used to evaluate a test that measures levels of substances in the blood called lysophospholipids, which are exceedingly high in abnormal tissues. Research has shown that a tumor marker known as lysophosphatidic acid indicates the presence of cancer regardless of the stage of tumor growth and may therefore provide an early means for detecting ovarian cancer.

The study also will assess a new Ovarian Pap test that Fishman and his colleagues helped develop. The test enables physicians, via a laparoscopic procedure, to remove a small number of cells from a woman's ovary. Cell samples obtained by this method will undergo molecular and genetic analysis and biochemical and cellular assays.

Women with a personal history of breast cancer, a family history (mother, sister, daughter) of ovarian cancer or colorectal cancer or presence of an inherited BRCA breast cancer gene mutation are considered to be at increased risk for ovarian cancer. Other risk factors include never having been pregnant and living in an industrialized country.

The other centers participating in this study are: Yale University, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Francisco, University of Arizona, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, University of Toronto, Creighton University, Duke University, University of Alabama, Atairgin Corporation and Circon Corporation.

Fishman's preliminary research on the Ovarian Pap test was supported in part by gifts from the Stenn Fund for Ovarian Cancer Research and the Friends of Prentice Women's Hospital. The Stenn Fund was founded by Marcia and Irving Stenn, Jr. Mrs. Stenn was an ovarian cancer patient who died.

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