Study: Ovarian Cancer Begins In The Fallopian Tubes Six Years Before It Becomes Fatal

A new study has revealed that ovarian cancer starts developing in the fallopian tubes six years before it becomes fatal.

Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes about six-and-a-half years before it becomes deadly, which means there’s hope in detecting the disease before it even spreads.

Scientists have also traced ovarian tumours to their site of origin in the fallopian tubes for the first time.

The report suggests that the genomic roots of most cases start in the fibrous tissue that connects the ovaries to the womb.

Study leader Dr Victor Velculescu explained the importance of this new discovery. “If studies in larger groups of women confirm our finding that the fallopian tubes are the site of origin of most ovarian cancer then this could result in a major change in the way we manage this disease for patients at risk,” he said.

Survival rates for ovarian cancer is low because the disease is often diagnosed late as symptoms only occur after it has already spread to other organs. Only a third of patients with the illness live beyond 10 years.

The study published by Nature Communications looked into cell samples collected from various locations in nine patients, that created the illness’s ‘evolutionary tree’, confirming that ovarian cancers do begin in the fallopian tubes.

Researchers found that STICs (serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas), which begin in the fallopian tubes, lead to the development of cancer in the ovaries after a ‘seeding event’ in the fallopian tubes, which takes an average of six-and-a-half years among the participants.

However, once the cancers reached their ovaries, the disease progresses approximately within two years.

Dr Velculescu said: “This aligns with what we see in the clinic, that newly-diagnosed ovarian cancer patients most often already have widespread disease.”

However, he said that bigger studies are needed to validate the new findings.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk