Hidden Cancer Cells Found After Treatment in Ovarian Cancer Patients, New Study Finds

New Disease Suspected in Ovarian Cancer Patients

Announcement

The overall survival (OS) rate for advanced ovarian cancer has consistently been stagnant for almost four decades, because of its steady recurring process. Though patients react safely to the initial chemotherapy and surgeries, it happens mostly in 4 out of 5 cases. A new groundbreaking cancer study a journal named ‘Clinical Cancer Research’ of the American Association for Cancer Research, provides insight into ‘why it happens’ and ‘how to intervene’.

TeamLab’s Initiative

The teamlab’s breakthrough in targeting minimal residual disease (MRD) in ovarian cancer, a multi-institutional partnership engaging the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Johns Hopkins, and MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. The study revealed that around half of the patients who indicated no signs of cancer in scanning still harbored has been detected of hidden cancer cells.

The teamlab addressed the MRD samples in unparalleled detail using proteomic profiling and advanced spatial transcriptomics. They discovered specific druggable targets and noticed major biological features such as immune evasion, epithelial-mesenchymal, and hypoxia signaling that transform every factor. This helps to exaggerate why some point to new drugs and cancer cells surviving treatment, a merger could primarily target MRD.

The research also discovered the use of widespread tumor DNA (ctDNA), fragments of cancer DNA in the bloodstream, which will be a blood-based tool to detect MRD. The results were empowering as the ctDNA addressed risky patients and provided a consultation window for how the disease can be tracked throughout, without surgery. Further, with the development of this blood-based idea became a robust tool to customize patient care and detect recurrence. This study is a single piece of the targeting MRD in ovarian cancer teamlab’s work to analyze and learn residual ovarian cancers. One of the ongoing trials funded through cancer is initiating MRD detection via SLL as a first primary endpoint to examine a novel immunotherapy.

These findings were bolstered by cancer’s massive initiative to understand the severity of MRD across various cancers, such as ALK+ lung cancer and acute myeloid leukemia.

Researchers Approach

The researchers use a less invasive approach known as ‘second-look laparoscopy’ (SLL) to identify cancer cells after the completion of experimental blood tests and chemotherapy that evaluate cancer cell DNA. Despite sensing no cancer detection on scans, 42% of patients have lingering cancer cells, called MRD. This was missed by the conventional tests.