According to findings presented at the National Cancer Research Institute Conference in Liverpool, England, scientists from the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Newcastle have developed a test to determine which ovarian cancer patients will benefit from a new treatment approach and which ones will not.
The test is known as the RAD51 assay, and by running it scientists are able to tell, with a near-100% certainty, which patients with ovarian cancer will benefit from so-called PARP inhibitors. According to researchers, about three-fifths of all ovarian cancer patients could benefit from the activity of PARP inhibitors, which selectively block the activity of cancer cells which express certain proteins on their cell surface.
While the results sound extremely promising, they have thus far only been explored on tumor samples in the laboratory. A practical test for clinicians has not been developed.
CANCER TYPE(S)
Ovarian cancer
TREATMENT TYPE(S)
PARP inhibitors
WHERE WAS THIS STUDY PUBLISHED?
This has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and until such time its results should be considered preliminary only.
Source
CancerResearch UK
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