Posted on September 26, 2001 at 11:55 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have developed a highly sensitive non-invasive method of detecting and monitoring ovarian cancer, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Gynecologic Oncology.
About 23,400 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year and about 13,900 women will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Early detection is the best chance for survival; however, fewer then 25 percent of cases are diagnosed in the early stages.
"Early detection of ovarian cancer is extremely difficult because there are no obvious symptoms of the disease and very small tumors look identical to surrounding normal cells,” says Tandra Chaudhuri, Ph.D., associate professor with the department of radiology at UAB. “Currently, there are no reliable methods for early detection. Ovarian cancer is often misdiagnosed and many women elect to have full hysterectomies, sometimes unnecessarily."
Researchers engineered a common cold virus to infect cancer cells with a green fluorescent protein that illuminates the cancer cells. Virus-infected human ovarian cancer cells were implanted in mice and were imaged from outside the body using a fluorescent stereomicroscope. "Very small tumors as small as 0.2 millimeters in diameter — the size of the head of a pen — were detected," says Chaudhuri.
The study also found the technique is useful in monitoring the effectiveness of cancer therapy. "Repeated imaging during treatment with adriamycin, a common cancer drug, showed green fluorescent cancer cells gradually dying until they were no longer detectable following the treatment," says Chaudhuri. "It is a non-invasive way to determine if treatment is working."
Researchers expect to begin human testing in the next few years. "If results of laboratory studies hold true in clinical trials, this technique will prove very beneficial in helping gynecologists detect tumor cells in the earliest stage of development without requiring patients to undergo a major surgical procedure," says Chaudhuri. "It's very promising."