Grant: Project Grant

There are approximately 70,000 new cases of endometrial cancer each year in North America; 7,300 new cases in Canada in 2017. Currently, it is difficult to reliably distinguish at the time of diagnosis, before surgery, which endometrial cancers are at high risk to progress to serious health events and even death; consequently, for example, we do not know which patients require a referral to a gynecological oncologist due to their increased risk and which can be treated in their community. Our team has recently developed a practical tool which helps categorize endometrial cancer patients, based on the genetic characteristics of their tumours, into four subtypes that are associated with patient outcome, such as recurrence and death from endometrial cancer. This practical tool uses methods that can be performed in the clinic and most importantly, can be performed at the time of diagnosis. We will use this tool with consideration of other risk factors (e.g., blood work, imaging and other disease) to develop models that can predict, from the time of initial diagnosis, which patients are likely to recur and consequently have an increased risk of dying. These models will help us improve guidelines for endometrial cancer management and determine the 'best' treatment (e.g. which patients should be referred to specialists which patient are candidates for ovary and fertility preservation) for every woman diagnosed with this disease, including those for whom current treatments may not work and would be best served through referral to clinical trials. This project will benefit both patients and the healthcare system as fewer endometrial cancer patients will be given expensive toxic cancer treatments that are not needed, or to which they are unlikely to respond.