Grant supports research into cancer of the placenta

Every year, between ten and twenty women are affected by cancer of the placenta in Denmark, while worldwide the number is around 40,000 women. The purpose of Lone Sund’s project is to improve treatment for these women by analysing the DNA from the cancer in blood tests.

Cancer of the placenta can come from a normal pregnancy or what is known as a molar pregnancy. In a molar pregnancy the foetus is not a viable foetus. Cancer following a molar pregnancy is curable with a milder form of chemotherapy and it is therefore important to know where the cancer comes from to be able to choose the best treatment.

Cancer of the placenta has a large blood supply and taking a tissue sample carries the risk of bleeding, so these samples are rarely taken. At present, it is not possible to carry out a genetic analysis without a tissue sample, so the origin of the cancer tumour can only be hypothesised.

By identifying DNA markers in the blood sample which originate from the cancer and comparing the markers in the patient, her partner and from previous pregnancies, Lone Sund is able to challenge the method's ability to determine the origin of the cancer.

She hopes that the results will lead to a more individualised form of cancer treatment and that in the long term it will be possible to offer a better method for disease monitoring diagnostics for patients with cancer of the placenta. It will also be possible to transfer experience with this type of cancer to other forms of cancer.

Contact

Professor MSO Lone Sund
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Mobile: (+45) 4014 4364
ls@biomed.au.dk