Tumor DNA fragments help predict (serous) ovarian cancer outcomes

Medical News Today

The team took 318 blood samples from 40 HGSOC patients before, during, and after treatment. Alongside these analyses, computerized tomography (CT) scans of tumors and information on the progression of the cancer were also noted.
The team found that levels of mutated TP53 in ctDNA (TP53MAF) correlated with the volume of the tumor (when compared with the CT scan), and also the patient's time to progression.
When compared with the diagnostic abilities of CA-125, TP53MAF fared much better. CA-125 took 84 days to reflect changes following chemotherapy. TP53MAF, on the other hand, took just 37 days.

Exploratory analysis of TP53 mutations in circulating tumour DNA as biomarkers of treatment response for patients with relapsed high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma: A retrospective study, Parkinson CA et al., PLOS Medicine, doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002198, published online 20 December 2016.
PLOS news release, accessed 20 December 2016 via EurekAlert.

Additional sources:
CDC, Ovarian cancer statistics, accessed 20 December 2016
Circulating mutant DNA to assess tumor dynamics, Frank Diehl et al., Nature Medicine, doi: 10.1038/nm.1789, published online 31 July 2007, abstract
National Human Genome Research Institute, Circulating tumor DNA: A new generation of cancer biomarkers, accessed 20 December 2016.