Ovarian Cancer DNA Detected in Vaginal Fluid, Researchers Report

By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have found it's possible to detect ovarian cancer gene mutations in vaginal fluid samples -- a finding they hope is a step toward an effective screening test for the disease.

In a pilot study, researchers were able to detect tumor DNA in tampons from several women with advanced ovarian cancer. It's a "proof of principle" that genetic evidence of the cancer can be uncovered in vaginal samples, they noted.

Ovarian cancer is highly treatable if it's caught in the early stages, but most women are diagnosed only after the cancer has advanced. Because of that, only 44 percent of women with the disease survive for five years, according to the American Cancer Society.

"Ovarian cancer does cause some symptoms early on. The problem is, they're non-specific," said Dr. Charles Landen, the senior researcher on the new study, which appears in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

A woman might have abdominal bloating or urinary symptoms, for instance -- but those problems are much more likely to have causes other than ovarian cancer. And right now, there is no effective screening test for the disease.

"Ovarian cancer is relatively uncommon," said Landen, a gynecologic cancer specialist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "So any screening test would have to be very good."

That is, it would have to be sensitive enough to reliably catch early ovarian cancer, but have a low risk of false alarms -- and unnecessary invasive procedures.

"We have to be sure we're not going to harm more women than we help," said Dr. David Mutch, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis.

The new findings lay the groundwork for future research, according to Mutch, who wrote an editorial published with the study.

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Ovarian Cancer DNA Detected in Vaginal Fluid, Researchers Report