Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP)
Cancer of unknown primary is diagnosed in over 10,000 people in the UK every year. Cancer of unknown primary means that the patient has been diagnosed with metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread) somewhere in the body, but the medical team is not able to determine where the cancer originally started.
A tumour is first found somewhere in the body. Initial diagnostic tests and examinations show that this tumour is most likely metastatic (not originating at the site where it is found) -however, an obvious origin of this tumour cannot be determined. This may be called cancer of uncertain primary or malignancy of undefined origin (MUO). Further tests and examinations usually then follow. If the primary cancer origin still remains unknown, the diagnosis becomes cancer of unknown primary (CUP), or as it is also called, metastatic malignant disease of unknown primary origin.
CUP is not a rare cancer, as its incidence is higher than that for many known cancers such as pancreatic, ovarian, uterine, kidney, brain, cervical cancers. For many patients and their families, diagnosis of CUP is especially difficult due to the uncertainty involved. All metastatic cancers have an origin, and knowing this origin may be required for the doctor to prescribe the best current treatment available. A CUP patient is also unable to enter any clinical trials for new treatments for a specific cancer type. However, this does not mean that there is no effective treatment available for CUP patients – sometimes the treatment prescribed to the CUP patient is just as effective as a treatment for a known cancer.
Recently, a new diagnostic test for classifying the primary cancer in CUP patients, CancerTYPE ID®, has been developed by bioTheranostics in the US. In this test, a sample of the CUP patient’s tumour is analysed for a wide range of markers, and the results from this analysis are used to classify the primary cancer type. As with most diagnostic tests, CancerTYPE ID® is not always able to classify the original cancer type for certain. However, bioTheranostics has used the CancerTYPE ID® to test tumour samples from several thousands of CUP patients this far, and in most cases the classification confidence is sufficient for the medical team to identify the cancer origin.
CancerTYPE ID® is now available from Lab21 for patients in the UK and Ireland. It must be requested by a doctor, who is best able to interpret the result in combination with other tests required for cancer diagnosis and classification. CancerTYPE ID® is not offered in the NHS, but it is available for NHS as well as private patients as a self-pay test.
For more information on the CancerTYPE ID® service, please visit the Lab21 CancerTYPE ID® for Health Professionals web page.
In order to find out more about Cancer of Unknown Primary, websites with more information include:
Please note that Lab21 is not responsible for the content of any external websites.