Environmental News Network - Why Some Cancers Affect Only Young Women

Details: By University of Geneva; 19.Oct

Among several forms of pancreatic cancer, one of them affects specifically women, often young. How is this possible, even though the pancreas is an organ with little exposure to sex hormones? This pancreatic cancer, known as “mucinous cyst”, has strange similarities with another mucinous cancer, affecting the ovaries. By conducting large-scale analyses of genomic data, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and at the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, in collaboration with colleagues from the United States have provided an answer: both tumours originate from embryonic germ cells. While still undifferentiated, these cells migrate to the reproductive organs. On their way, some can mistakenly stop in other organs, bringing a risk of tumour that may occur 30 years later. By allowing a better classification of these mucinous tumours, this study, to be read in the Journal of Pathology, paves the way for a more appropriate and personalized management aligned with the tumour’s origin.

Julie Swatson

Among several forms of pancreatic cancer, one of them affects specifically women, often young. How is this possible, even though the pancreas is an organ with little exposure to sex hormones? This pancreatic cancer, known as “mucinous cyst”, has strange similarities with another mucinous cancer, affecting the ovaries. By conducting large-scale analyses of genomic data, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and at the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, in collaboration with colleagues from the United States have provided an answer: both tumours originate from embryonic germ cells. While still undifferentiated, these cells migrate to the reproductive organs. On their way, some can mistakenly stop in other organs, bringing a risk of tumour that may occur 30 years later. By allowing a better classification of these mucinous tumours, this study, to be read in the Journal of Pathology, paves the way for a more appropriate and personalized management aligned with the tumour’s origin.

Mucinous tumours of the ovary and pancreas affect young women - between 30 and 40 years of age. They take the form of a large cyst, a kind of ball filled with liquid. Rare - they account for about 3% of ovarian and pancreatic cancers - they are usually treated by surgery. Taken in time, the cancerous cyst is completely removed. However, in 15% of cases, the cyst breaks before surgery; the cancer cells spread into the peritoneum, giving rise to metastases that are highly resistant to chemotherapy. In such cases, the survival prognosis of patients does not exceed one year.

“Initially, this work was based on clinical observation,” says study leader Dr. Intidhar Labidi-Galy, a researcher at the Translational Research Centre in Onco-haematology at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine and a physician at the HUG. “As a specialist in ovarian cancer, I came across an article detailing the genetic profile of mucinous tumours of the pancreas. To my great surprise, they had the same genetic alterations as mucinous tumours of the ovary, although these two organs have no direct relationship with each other. Dr. Kevin Elias, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA and first author of the paper, identifies the close links between the two tumours: “We found the same genetic mutations, the same types of victims - young women, often smokers - and, even more surprisingly, ovarian tissue in pancreatic cysts.”

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Why Some Cancers Affect Only Young Women