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Early Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer Possible With Papanicolaou Tests
Tumor-specific TP53 variants were detected in Papanicolaou tests for routine cervical cancer screenings up to 6 years before ovarian cancer diagnosis, according to study findings by Lara Paracchini, MSc, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Milan, Italy, and co-investigators (JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jul 1. Epub ahead of print).
“The low 5-year survival rate of women with high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer (HGS-EOC) is related to its late diagnosis; thus, improvement in diagnosis constitutes a crucial step to increase the curability of this disease,” explained Ms Paracchini et al, who sought to determine whether TP53 variants detected in matched primary tumor biopsies could be identified in DNA purified from Papanicolaou test samples collected from patients with HGS-EOC years before diagnosis.
A total of 17 patients with stage II-IV HGS-EOC (median age, 60 years) were included in this study from October 2015 to January 2019.
Ms Paracchini and colleagues assessed the presence of tumor pathogenic TP53 variants using the droplet digital polymerase chain reaction in DNA purified from Papanicolaou test samples of patients before diagnosis during cervical cancer screenings.
The Papanicolaou tests available presented tumor-matched TP53 variants in 64% (n = 11) of patients up to 6 years before the diagnosis of HGS-EOC.
“These findings suggest that noninvasive early molecular diagnosis of HGS-EOC is potentially achievable through detection of TP53 clonal variants in the DNA purified from Papanicolaou tests performed during cervical cancer screening,” Ms Paracchini et al concluded. —Kaitlyn Manasterski
