TP53 gene mutations may help catch ovarian cancer

Screening for tumour cells in the fallopian tubes of women at high-risk for ovarian cancer may help detect the cancer years before it develops further, suggests a new study.

Dr Ronny Drapkin, an Associate Professor of Pathology in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues, have shown through human tumour studies and animal models that ovarian cancer can start in the fallopian tubes and secondarily move to the ovaries where it is clinically diagnosed.

However, it was not clear how and when these cancers developed, or how to best detect them before they progressed to the ovaries.

The new study traces the origins of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), the most frequent type of ovarian cancer that is often diagnosed at advanced stages, back to fallopian tube lesions known as ‘p53 signatures’ and serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas (STICs) that harbour the TP53 gene mutations.

Read more from Drug Target Review, by Dr Zara Kassam, TP53 gene mutations may help catch ovarian cancer