Identifying the disease-causing mechanisms in cancers with an unknown primary site improves treatment and survival

Identifying the molecular profile of a tumour where the primary site is unknown is crucial to the choice of treatment, according to research presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress. In up to five percent of all cancers, the site of the primary tumour is unknown and the disease is not diagnosed until it is at an advanced stage, when the cancer has metastasised. Until recently, the choice of treatment has been based on efforts to find biomarkers that could indicate the site of origin, but now a team of researchers has succeeded in identifying the particular molecular profiles of the metastatic tumours in a large group of patients. Read more here.