Congratulations to Dr. Aline Talhouk and Dr. Andrea Neilson, recipients of a Canadian Cancer Society Challenge Grant.
Their study, “PROTECT-E: Progesterone Responsiveness for Targeted Endometrial Cancer Prevention,” tackles a critical gap in uterine cancer prevention. Most uterine cancers are driven by hormone imbalances, and while preventive hormone therapy can treat uterine cancer and pre-cancer conditions, there’s currently no reliable way to identify who would benefit most.
The study evaluates the progesterone challenge test (PCT) as a test that directly checks whether the uterus is experiencing a hormone imbalance and would respond to hormone therapy. In the study, 500 individuals will be recruited from four provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec).
Alongside Drs. Laurence Bernard, Christa Aubrey, and Skhbir Singh, Dr. Talhouk and Dr. Neilson are evaluating a test that could predict which patients would benefit from hormone therapy — paving the way for preventive treatment that stops uterine cancers before they start. This will represent an important milestone that will enable us to implement this strategy broadly and help us prevent over 50% of cancers of the uterus.
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