Researchers Develop Blood Test To Detect Ovarian Cancer in Early Stages, Study Says

Main Category: Ovarian Cancer
Also Included In: Blood / Hematology
Article Date: 13 May 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect ovarian cancer in its early stages, before symptoms develop and when treatment is likely to be most effective, according to a study published in the early edition of the May 9 issue of the... Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, BBC News reports (BBC News, 5/10). Gil Mor, an associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, and colleagues developed a test that relies on four marker proteins -- leptin, prolactin, osteopontin and insulin-like growth factor II -- to identify ovarian cancer (Lister, Times, 5/10). The researchers used the test in a trial involving 106 cancer-free women and 100 women with ovarian cancer, including 24 in an early stage of the disease, and were able to accurately identify 95% of the cases, Reuters Health reports. Researchers found that in women with ovarian cancer, prolactin and osteopontin levels were significantly higher and leptin and insulin-like growth factor-II levels were significantly lower than the levels found in cancer-free women. Researchers said that the extent to which the proteins "can serve as potential biomarkers" of other types of cancer "must be investigated rigorously" (Reuters Health, 5/9). Researchers also said that they will work to improve the test, which is required to be 99.6% accurate in order to be considered reliable enough for national screening programs in the United Kingdom (Hodgson, Guardian, 5/10). "Early diagnosis can help prolong or save lives, but clinicians currently have no sensitive screening method because the disease shows few symptoms," Mor said (BBC News, 5/10). About 70% to 80% of ovarian cancer cases that are found in the early stages can be cured (Xinhuanet, 5/10). About 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and about 16,000 women annually die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society (Bazell, MSNBC.com, 5/9).

NBC's "Nightly News" on Monday reported on the study. The segment includes comments from David Fishman, director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the New York University Cancer Institute; David Ward, deputy director of the Nevada Cancer Institute; and a woman who was diagnosed with early-stage ovarian cancer (Bazell, "Nightly News," NBC, 5/9). A transcript of the segment is available online. Video of the segment is available online in Windows Media.

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