Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, a type that tends to go undiagnosed for some time in many people.
However, a lesser known fact is that ovarian cancer often forms secondary tumors, especially in a certain tissue in the abdominal cavity known as the omentum, which connects the stomach to other abdominal organs.
Researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel have investigated what happens when the cancer ‘hijacks’ this cavity.
Ovarian cancer often goes unnoticed for a long time. In seven out of ten patients, the tumor has already formed secondary tumors in the abdominal cavity at the time of diagnosis.
“In advanced ovarian cancer, the question arises whether, in addition to the visible tumors and metastases, the omentum should also be completely removed preventively to reduce the recurrence of tumors,” explains Dr. Francis Jacob from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel.
To answer this question, the team led by Jacob and Professor Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz analyzed 36 tissue samples from 15 patients, taken from different parts of the omentum.
Some of the samples came from patients with ovarian cancer who already had secondary tumors in this organ, while some of the samples came from patients whose omentum was cancer-free but who suffered from other types of cancer.
The researchers analyzed exactly which cells were present in the samples and created a cell atlas of the omentum in a diseased and healthy state.
The results indicated that the healthy omentum has a balanced cell composition, meaning that the same cells are present in equal amounts in all locations monitored.
However, in the case of patients with ovarian cancer, it was discovered that the cancer transforms the omentum into an environment that promotes the spread of tumors.
“A key finding is that even tissue far from the tumor undergoes changes in composition and already contains individual tumor cells. When cancer cells migrate to the omentum, they hijack the entire organ,” explains Jacob.
The findings in this study could represent a major advance in the treatment of ovarian cancer and prevent recurrence by also treating the omentum.
