Nuclear Oncology

Posts Tagged ‘Tumors’

Granular ovarian cancer
A research team, led from the University of British Columbia, Canada, selected four cancer patients with granular type to analyze in detail the RNA of their tumors.

From these samples they tried to identify some genetic modifications of interest that were present in at least three of the four women, but that had not been previously identified in other tumors of the ovary (epithelial), or known human genomes or in other databases of polymorphisms.

Once they had their mutations ‘candidates’ to this small scale, verified their findings in a larger sample of women (60 cases). The same alteration was present in 86 of the 89 ovarian cancer samples granular type, while not located in more than 370 other samples from other types of ovarian and breast cancer were studied.

Their findings shed the existence of a mutation in the three billion base pairs of nucleotides that make up the genetic material of a tumor. This mutation is located in the FOXL2 gene, plays an important role during the development of the ovaries and makes it a potential ’cause’ of this cancer, whose origin was unknown to date.

Protons are atoms that have a positive charge. Like the X-rays are used to treat benign and malignant tumors, a beam of protons can be used to irradiate tumors in the same way. There are no differences between the biological effects of protons compared with photons (X rays). Physically, the protons release most of their energy when they hit the tumor and, unlike photons, do not apply a dose outside the boundaries of the tumor. Therefore, the radiation dose is best suited to the tumor and less damage to healthy tissue. As a result, the treating physician (an oncologist) can potentially give a higher dose to the tumor while minimizing unwanted side effects. This feature is particularly important in the treatment of children, reducing the radiation to tissue growth and development.

Proton therapy is being used to treat tumors in the following areas of the body with promising early results:

* Lung
* Prostate
* Brain
* Vertebral body tumors  or column
* Sarcomas of the skull base
* Pediatric Brain Tumors
* Head and neck (see page head and neck cancer
* Melanomas of the eye
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