CfDNA: Hidden Cancer Detection in Pregnant Women

Highlights:

• Nearly 50% of pregnant women with abnormal cfDNA results had undiagnosed occult cancers
• Whole-body MRI showed 98% sensitivity and 88.5% specificity in detecting occult cancers
• Complex cfDNA patterns linked to cancer, while simpler patterns indicated nonmalignant conditions

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a potential biomarker that can be used to detect occult cancer. Occult cancer is a type of cancer that is hidden or not detectable through symptoms or imaging techniques (1^✔).

Pregnancy Blood Tests

Many pregnant women take a blood test during their pregnancy to check for fetal disorders like Down syndrome. Sometimes these blood tests can reveal other medical conditions. Nearly 50% of pregnant or postpartum women were found to have undiagnosed cancer from their unclear clinical cfDNA-sequencing results.

‘Lymphoma blood #cancer was common among #pregnantwomen who took cell-free DNA (cfDNA) blood tests. #medindia’

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted by Amy E. Turriff, from the Center for Precision Health Research in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues performed cancer screening in pregnant or postpartum women who did not have any signs or symptoms of cancer but received unusual clinical cfDNA-sequencing results or nonreportable results from 1 of 12 commercial laboratories.

A standard cancer screening protocol, including rapid whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), laboratory tests, and standardized cfDNA sequencing using a genome-wide platform, was used.

Hidden Cancers Detected in Pregnant Women

The presence of cancer was examined after the initial cancer screening. The researchers found that in the initial cohort, cancer was present in 52 of 107 participants (48.6%). Lymphoma blood cancers were common among them followed by colon and breast cancer.

Whole-body MRI had a sensitivity of 98.0% and specificity of 88.5% for detecting occult cancer. 49 participants had a combination of copy-number gains and losses across multiple chromosomes and 47 participants with this sequencing pattern had cancer.

Participants with nonmalignant conditions like fibroids, had sequencing patterns of cfDNA with only chromosomal gains or only chromosomal losses. Whole-body MRI is more reliable in diagnosing pregnant women who received prenatal cfDNA-sequencing results with occult cancer.

Reference:

1. Prenatal blood test sometimes hints at cancer in moms-to-be: study - (http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2024-12/07/content_117592883.htm)

Source: Medindia

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