BHU SCIENTIST FINDS OUT NONINVASIVE WAY TO DIAGNOSE CERVICAL CANCER

VARANASI : In a pathbreaking study, Dr. Samarendra Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor, School of Biotechnology, Institute of Science, has found out a noninvasive way to diagnose cervical cancer in patients. The study reported a cost effective and specific method for early detection, treatment monitoring, the status of residual disease and distant tumor metastasis in cervical cancer patients. The study was undertaken in collaboration with Department of Radiotherapy and Radiation Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU. During the study, it was shown that circulating cell free DNA (ccf DNA) could be used as effective marker to evaluate tumor burden in the patients, both in untreated and treated individuals. This study also shows that during concurrent chemo-radiotherapy ccfDNA load disappeared and after 6 months of follow up appeared back due to distant metastasis. The sensitivity and specificity of this method and short half-life of ccfDNA makes this method reliable and potent as an affordable and real-time biomarker for detecting tumor burden in cervical carcinoma patients. The study has also shown a way to follow up prognostic outcome of medication/surgery by using blood samples from cancer patients. This study upon completion could be very useful in developing diagnostics for detection of cervical cancers which is one of the top killers of women worldwide. The findings were published in a prestigious journal named Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics (JCRT). The study was conducted on biopsy confirmed patients. It is to be noted that currently the only way to diagnose cervical cancer among patients is via tissue biopsy, which is not only painful but also not available and accessible to everyone. Finding an alternate way to diagnose cervical cancer could be a changemaker in terms of healthcare and treatment.

The study was conducted at one of the laboratories of Institute of Science, BHU, which carries out research in field of cancer, especially cervical cancer. For the purpose, the lab uses various molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology tools. It tries to investigate why cell cycle behavior in cancer cells is mis -regulated.