IMPROVING WOMB CANCER DETECTION

Together with the Eve Appeal, we are delighted to announce that we will be funding Dr Kelechi Njoku, a senior clinical oncology specialty registrar and academic clinical lecturer from the University of Manchester, to develop a new, kinder, test to diagnose womb cancer.

Womb cancer is the most common type of gynaecological cancer and the fourth most common cancer in women. Currently in the UK, when someone has the ‘red flag’ symptom of womb cancer, abnormal bleeding, they are faced with a series of uncomfortable and invasive tests. These include transvaginal ultrasounds(where a scanner probe is inserted  into the vagina to visualise the inside of the womb), hysteroscopy (where a thin camera is put into the womb through the vagina and cervix to see inside the womb), and biopsies.

Dr Njoku and his team have found that they can use proteins in vaginal fluid to test for womb cancer- without any invasive techniques or discomfort- using a small device that is put into the vagina.

This research represents a significant step forward in improving outcomes for women
affected by womb cancer. Dr Njoku’s research has found that when someone has womb cancer, cancer cells can be found in the vagina. They have been working on using the proteins in the vaginal fluid (an area of research called proteomics), to detect certain proteins that are signs of womb cancer. So far in their studies this has worked really well, especially in postmenopausal women, and has detected 95% of cancers.

Now their plan is to really put this technology to the test and try it on 500 women who are either known to have womb cancer or are at a high risk of developing it. They want to find out from these women whether the test works as well as they hope, how the women find the test and if it will be cost effective to the NHS to use instead of the current methods.