AsianScientist (May 13, 2015) – Researchers have developed a new ovarian cancer screening test that is twice as sensitive as conventional strategies, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The method uses a statistical calculation to interpret changing levels of a protein called CA125 in women’s blood, which is linked to ovarian cancer. This gives a more accurate prediction of a woman’s individual risk of developing cancer, compared to the conventional screening method which uses a fixed ‘cut-off’ point for CA125.
The new method detected cancer in 86 percent of women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (iEOC). Earlier techniques detected just 41 percent.
A clinical trial evaluated 46,237 women who continued to attend annual screening following their first screen. Their blood was tested once a year for CA125 levels and then a computer algorithm was used to interpret their risk of ovarian cancer based on factors including the woman’s age, the original levels of CA125 and how that level changed over time. The serial pattern was compared with known cases of cancer and controls to estimate the risk of having ovarian cancer.
Chief investigator of the trial, Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales Professor Ian Jacobs, co-developed the test with Harvard University biostatistician Associate Professor Steven Skate. Jacobs said the CA125 snapshot has been called into question as a reliable biological marker for ovarian cancer.
“Our findings indicate that this can be an accurate and sensitive screening tool when used in the context of a woman’s pattern of CA125 over time,” Jacobs said.
“What’s normal for one woman may not be so for another. It is the change in levels of this protein that’s important.”
The trial results come from analysis of one arm of the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS), the world’s largest ovarian cancer screening trial, led by the University College London. The trial involved 202,638 post-menopausal women aged 50 or over who were randomly assigned to two different annual screening strategies (multimodal screening or transvaginal ultrasound) or no test at all.
“My hope is that when the results of UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening are available, this approach will prove capable of detecting ovarian cancer early enough to save lives,” said Jacobs.
The article can be found at: Menon et al. (2015) Risk Algorithm Using Serial Biomarker Measurements Doubles The Number Of Screen-Detected Cancers Compared With A Single-Threshold Rule In The United Kingdom Collaborative Trial Of Ovarian Cancer Screening.
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Source: University of New South Wales.
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