Genetic Mutation That Occurs in Most Ovarian Cancers Identified

A group of American researchers have identified a genetic mutation that occurs in majority of the ovarian cancer cases raising hopes of the possibility of the early detection of the disease. The researchers were part of The Cancer Genome Atlas project which was launched by the US National Cancer Institute and the US National Human Genome Research Institute back in 2006.

The researchers analyzed 316 ovarian cancer tumors and found that almost 96 percent of the tumors exhibited mutations in the TP53 genes which were not present in the normal tissues of the patients.

Commenting on the findings, Duke Cancer Institute’s Dr Andrew Berchuck said, “For patients, what's important is that we can now look at an individual cancer and characterize the molecular alterations that have caused that specific cancer to arise. And then those alterations become therapeutic targets for treating that particular cancer.”

Source-Medindia