TORONTO — Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto have recently discovered a way to quickly detect and treat thyroid cancer.
Dr. Paul Walfish
The research, which was published in the BMC Cancer medical journal about a month ago, included data on the analysis of thyroid cancer tissue blocks from 34 patients over a period of time.
Dr. Paul Walfish, a senior consultant to the head and neck oncology program and endocrine division at Mount Sinai Hospital, led a research team that found a biomarker, called Ep-ICD, in thyroid cancer cells that allows doctors to quickly identify the aggressiveness of the cancer.
A biomarker is a substance that can help researchers measure certain characteristics of a cell.
In this case, the biomarker, Ep-ICD, which is formed when the cells lining the thyroid mutate and become cancerous, tells doctors whether the thyroid cancer cells will be difficult to treat and what kind of treatment would be needed.
After going through some 17 years worth of archival cases, Walfish and his team found that aggressive cancer cells have a larger amount of Ep-ICD in their nucleus, or control centre, and a smaller amount on the membrane or outside of the cell.
“When [Ep-ICD] gets into the cell in abundant levels, it stimulates the development of a cancer,” Walfish said. “What we found was that the most aggressive cancer had less [of the substance] outside of it and more [inside].”
Most patients with a larger concentration of the biomarker in the nucleus survived an average of five months after being diagnosed, while those with smaller levels survived for an average of 16 years.
“Ep-ICD in the nucleus shortens life expectancy,” he said, adding that this substance is known to cause tumour growth. “We still have a lot to work on, but it’s a new finding that tells us how a cell becomes aggressive. This knowledge can be useful in predicting clinical courses.”
Knowing how much Ep-ICD is in a cell helps doctors predict what type of treatment and how much of it a patient needs, Walfish said.
The research findings are significant because thyroid cancer is currently the most rapidly increasing cancer in Canada. About 3,000 Canadians are diagnosed annually, 80 per cent of whom are women. Although this type of cancer has one of the lowest death rates, a sub-type, called anaplastic thyroid cancer, has a high fatality rate.
Walfish and his team are currently working on applying this research to other forms of cancer, including breast, prostate, colon and head and neck cancer.
“Our observations are pretty unique so far in the field, except for colon cancer. A group suggested something like this for colon cancer,” Walfish said.
Walfish’s research was supported by the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation through their Da Vinci Gala fundraiser, as well as through the Alex and Simona Shnaider Research Chair in thyroid oncology, the Temmy Latner/Dynacare Chair in head and neck oncology and the Mount Sinai Hospital Department of Medicine Research Fund.