Radiotherapy-resistant endometrial cancer subtype identified

Canadian researchers have identified a type of endometrial cancer-a uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC)-that is resistant to radiotherapy.

They analyzed the medical records of 62 women with biopsy-proven endometrial cancer of at least stage II who were treated with radiotherapy followed by hysterectomy. They looked at variables such as patient characteristics, tumor stage, histologic grade and subtype, and radiation technique and dose to determine if any were associated with the complete pathologic response to treatment that occurred in 24 of the women.

It turned out that the only variable predictive of response to treatment was whether the cancer was a UPSC; none of the seven women with a UPSC responded well to radiotherapy, even though they were comparable to the other women in all other regards.