‘The Google Earth of Endometrial Cancer’ — a New, Molecular Snapshot Could Lead to Better Treatment of the Disease

New treatments could open up for endometrial cancer thanks to just-released research that lays out a detailed, molecular snapshot of the disease.

It’s “the Google Earth of endometrial cancer,” said Karin Rodland, one of five corresponding authors of the paper and a cancer biologist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The research, funded by the National Cancer Institute with researchers out of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and some 12 other institutions, studied the molecular steps that lead to endometrial cancer (also known as uterine cancer), putting a lens on key genes and proteins. It suggests that doctors could one day determine just how aggressive they need to be when treating each individual, and offers clues about why a common treatment is not effective with some patients.

“Anything that furthers personalized treatment is a step in the right direction,” Dr. Elena Ratner, a  gynecologic oncologist and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine, tells SurvivorNet in response to the study.

“Things are very different today than they were even three years ago,” she says. “Previously, all we knew was what kind of cancer the patient had and, according to that cancer, we would give standard chemotherapy. Today, providers are able to study tumor mutations and then approach treatment decisions. It’s made a big difference.”

The Research

The research builds on work by The Cancer Gene Atlas (TCGA), “which identified some of the genetic underpinnings of the disease in 2013,” according to the news release.

It developed a new way to identify more aggressive endometrial cancers, and “a new way to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from a treatment known as checkpoint therapy,” it says, refining the way clinicians choose therapy. Checkpoint therapy works by blocking checkpoint proteins from binding with their partner proteins. This prevents the “off” signal from being sent, allowing the T cells to kill cancer cells.

Dr. Diana English, a gynecologic oncologist at Stanford Health Care, talked with SurvivorNet about the risks and symptoms of uterine cancer 

While the data from the study can help other researchers generate new ideas and test hypotheses, clinical trials and a change in treatment protocol are a ways off.

“I’d predict we’re still at least several years away from that. At this point, we’re still focusing on the basic tumor biology,” co-author Dr. David Fenyö, a professor at NYU Langone Health and its Institute for Systems Genetics, tells SurvivorNet.

Information About Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer, a form of cancer that lines the uterus, is the sixth-most common form of cancer in women in the world, according to the study. In 2019, it resulted in more than 12,000 deaths in the U.S.

It starts when cells in the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) start to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer, and can spread to other parts of the body, according to the American Cancer Society.

Roughly 85% of endometrial cancers are of the endometrioid subtype, and are diagnosed early and have a high cure rate. Other subtypes, including serous, adenosquamous carcinoma and carcinomasarcoma, are aggressive tumors that are more likely to spread and have lower cure rates.

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