Patients with endometrial cancer at CGOA were asked to participate by collecting urine at home. Using an in-house developed procedure of urine collection and stabilization, the urine was sent to the laboratory by regular mail and processed upon arrival. Following the same approach, urine was collected from age-matched female controls. Part of the urine sample was fractioned by centrifugation, and urine supernatant, sediment and full void urine were tested for the presence of DNA modifications referred to as ‘methylation’. All DNA methylation markers from all urine fractions had significantly increased methylation levels in patients as compared to controls. The highest diagnostic potential for endometrial cancer detection in urine was found in full void urine.
These encouraging data indicate that DNA methylation testing in urine could provide an attractive strategy for non-invasive endometrial cancer detection.
Potential applications of this diagnostic approach include the screening of asymptomatic women, triaging women with postmenopausal bleeding symptoms, and monitoring women with increased endometrial cancer risk.
Download the full article 'Non-invasive detection of endometrial cancer by DNA methylation analysis in urine', published in Clinical Epigenetics, November 2020