In two thirds of PTO (Primary Tumor Unknown) cases, the type of cancer can still be diagnosed. This is a breakthrough in metastatic cancer research whose origin is unknown. A new technique analyzes the DNA of diseased cells, which makes targeted treatment possible, reports RTL.
According to the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Netherlands, about 1500 people a year are diagnosed with PTO. The origin of the cancer cannot be traced and therefore patients cannot be treated in a targeted manner. 85 percent of them die within a year.
The source of the cancer is too small or even completely gone
The source of the cancer may be smaller than a pinhead. And sometimes, clinical pathologist Kim Monkhorst of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital tells RTL, the tumor is even completely gone. Then the immune system may have already cleared it up. ‘Then the metastases remain, but we are in the dark about what type of cancer it was.’
Monkhorst: ‘A test has been developed that uses the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) technique, in which we can analyze the complete genome of the diseased cells. In the old situation we looked, to put it simply, at a slice of tissue.’ Now we are looking at the DNA at the molecular level.
Correct prediction in 84 percent of cases
It has been investigated how often WGS makes the correct prediction about the type of tumor and this turned out to be the case in 84 percent of the cases. This study has also been applied to patients diagnosed with PTO.
Monkhorst calls the results a ‘huge success’. ‘Besides that we can now often make a diagnosis, we can also make a targeted treatment plan.’ This also provides better insight into which treatment is most effective in the event of tumor abnormalities. ‘That way we can attack the weak spot of the tumor.’
Source: RTL News
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