Public release date: 14-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Dryden jdryden@wustl.edu 314-286-0110 Washington University School of Medicine

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a genetic test that can accurately predict whether the most common form of eye cancer will spread to other parts of the body, particularly the liver.

In 459 patients with ocular melanoma at 12 centers in the United States and Canada, the researchers found the test could successfully classify tumors more than 97 percent of the time.

The study will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Ophthalmology, but is now online.

"When the cancer spreads beyond the eye, it's unlikely any therapy is going to be effective," says principal investigator J. William Harbour, MD. "But it's very possible that we can develop treatments to slow the growth of metastatic tumors. The real importance of this test is that by identifying the type of tumor a patient has, we can first remove the tumor from the eye with surgery or radiation and then get those individuals at high risk into clinical trials that might be able to help them live longer."

Harbour believes the test should allow ocular oncologists to quickly evaluate the risks associated with particular tumors and to begin treatment the moment they can detect any spread of the cancer.

Melanoma of the eye is relatively rare, diagnosed in about 2,000 people in the United States each year. Advances in treatment have allowed surgeons to preserve patients' vision, but when cancer spreads beyond the eye, it often is deadly.

About a decade ago, Harbour, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, began using gene expression profiling to monitor the activity of thousands of genes in and around ocular melanoma tumors.

"At the time, we were surprised to see that based on these gene expression profiles, the tumors clustered into two groups that corresponded, almost perfectly, to patients whose cancer spread and those whose cancer was confined within the eye," says Harbour, who directs Washington University's Center for Ocular Oncology. "Tumors with a class 1 gene expression profile, or 'signature,' very rarely spread, but those with a class 2 profile frequently develop into metastatic cancer."

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Genetic test identifies eye cancer tumors likely to spread