ARTICLE SUMMARY:
A Southern California start-up uses a blood test-based method to address glaring gaps in ovarian cancer diagnosis.
Ovarian cancer poses a particular challenge to the physicians who treat it in terms of diagnosis and treatment risk management. Adnexal masses, typically benign growths that form in the pelvic region, are detectable by common imaging methods, but biopsy is not recommended since rupturing a malignant tumor can cause the cancer to spread. To avoid mishandling a suspected malignant mass and turning it from an early-stage tumor to an advanced-stage tumor, a trained gynecological oncologist (GO) must remove the entire mass with a surgical procedure that can cost patients their ovaries, fallopian tubes, and fertility. Since 80% of adnexal masses are benign, gynecologists must decide between surgery that removes the tumor and possibly reproductive organs or preserving the patient’s anatomy and sparing them from a potentially unnecessary and costly surgery but at the risk of allowing the disease to progress.
CpG Diagnostics, a University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine spinout, is developing OvaPrint, a liquid biopsy test for evaluating adnexal masses without disturbing the tissue, so patients with signs of malignancy can be referred to a GO without delay. “Having the patient seen by the right doctor at the right time is critical for their optimal treatment plan and success,” says company founder Bodour Salhia, PhD. With OvaPrint, Salhia aims to provide an impactful tool in clinical decision-making that addresses the gap in doctors’ current repertoire of characterizing tumors.
