Fox Chase Clinical Genetics Chair Comments on Early Cancer Detection in Pregnant Women

• Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, FACP, chair of clinical genetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center, offered expert commentary to Hem/Onc Today about a JAMA Oncology study on prenatal testing to detect cancer in pregnant women.

  The study involved noninvasive testing of maternal plasma cell-free DNA in more than 4,000 pregnant women—three of whom were found to have suspected cancers and were later diagnosed with cancer after further tests. “This is an interesting article,” noted Dr. Daly, who was not involved in the study, explaining that the “use of plasma-derived DNA — as opposed to cell-derived DNA — is a field of active investigation as a way to detect tumors early, or to monitor treatment.”