Sep 9, 2010 09:19 GMT  ·  By
Intermediate magnification micrograph of a low malignant potential (LMP) mucinous ovarian tumor
   Intermediate magnification micrograph of a low malignant potential (LMP) mucinous ovarian tumor

Two new studies, released yesterday September 8, show that genetic mutations may be responsible for the development of some cases of ovarian cancers.

The finding is extremely important because it hints at new avenues of research in this field. In other words, oncologists could derive new therapies and drugs from this genetic study.

Both investigations determined that the gene called ARID1A played a critical role in the development of this type of cancer in selected women populations. This has never been shown to be true before.

According to the new papers, which appears in the top-rated journals Science and the New England Journal of Medicine, this gene is usually a tumor-suppressor. However, it can become a cause for cancer under certain conditions.

“Ovarian cancer management was a bit of a quagmire until recently, largely because people were treating it as a single disease. It’s not,” says expert David Huntsman.

He is a pathologist and cancer geneticist based at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.

The scientist says that the new discoveries could help improve the outlook of ovarian clear-cell carcinoma treating and screening. This condition accounts for 1 in 10 ovarian cancer cases.

This for of the disease is extremely dangerous because it is insidious. In only 20 percent of cases is the cancer detected before it spreads outside of the ovaries.

The clear-cell carcinoma variety is especially dangerous because patients have a high relapse rate. Additionally, the cells themselves respond poorly to treatment.

Huntsman, who is the author of the NEJM paper, shows that the mutated form of ARID1A could be found in 55 of 119 women suffering from ovarian clear-cell tumors.

This genetic variant was however not found in any of 76 women suffering from high-grade serous carcinoma, another common form of ovarian cancer.

“This suggests that this [mutation] is a very early event in this cancer. It’s possible that this [form of ovarian] cancer comes from cells that originate in the uterus,” Huntsman concludes, quoted by Science News.