Miya Ringel

My laboratory focuses on merging conventional treatment techniques with genetic analyses to identify drivers of gynecologic cancer types, inclusive to endometrial, ovarian, and uterine cancer.

Abstract:

Endometrial cancer affects roughly 2.8% of female-bodied people in America, and is a reproductive condition which causes cancer cells to form in the uterine lining, also known as the endometrium. Throughout the four primary stages of endometrial cancer, biological molecules are produced and released into the bloodstream, known as biomarkers, which can help doctors detect and monitor cancer progression. Two of these biomarkers are known as cell-free DNA and circulating-tumor DNA, which are small fragments of DNA that all exhibit the genetic mutations of endometrial cancer. Both cell-free DNA and circulating-tumor DNA are produced by a tumor and end up in the bloodstream of a patient. Therefore, the primary goal of the research at The Britta Weigelt Laboratory in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center was to understand whether the concentration of both DNA types allows for disease and stage monitoring in endometrial cancer patients. The experiment occurred over an 18-month period and began with the extraction of blood samples from 144 diagnosed endometrial cancer patients, which were then processed for the purpose of analyzing cell-free and circulating-tumor DNA quantities. It was determined that the concentration of cell-free DNA was dependent on cancer stage and the growth pattern of cancerous tumors, whereas the concentration of circulating-tumor DNA was determined by the patient’s stage of treatment. The patients who were diagnosed with the earlier stages of endometrial cancer carried lower concentrations of cell-free DNA in contrast to those in later stages. Additionally, patients diagnosed with lower-stage cancer carried similarly low concentrations of circulating-tumor DNA. The accumulation of cell-free DNA and circulating-tumor DNA in endometrial cancer patients has a direct relationship to many of the cancer’s characteristics, and therefore can be incorporated into further research as a means to easily detect reproductive diseases before they have fully metastasized.

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