TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2016 , Vol 31 , Num 4
Molecular Biomarkers in Ovarian Carcinoma
Hülya YAZICI1,Özge ŞÜKRÜOĞLU1,Seda KILIÇ1
1Department of Basic Oncology, İstanbul University Oncology Institute, Cancer Genetics Division, İstanbul-Turkey DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2017.1532 Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of the gynecologic cancers because its etiology is not well-understood and the majority of ovarian cancers are detected at an advanced stage, which is commonly incurable. A lack of effective screening protocols for early diagnosis of ovarian carcinomain the population has increased the frequency of disease detection. Earlier diagnosis may result in decreased stage of disease and morbidity for women with ovarian cancer. Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125) is the primarily used diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer. However, it is not overexpressed in the early stage of the disease. Moreover, higher levels of CA125 are alsoelevated in other cancers such as benign ovarian tumors and gynecologic inflammation. Investigators are searching for new specific and sensitive biomarkers toreplace or complement CA125 to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. This review will discuss the current status and new biomarkers, algorithms for screening, and risk assessment for ovarian cancer. Keywords : Biomarkers; ovarian carcinoma; risk estimation; therapeutics