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Tumor Markers in Ovarian Malignancies

Department of Oncology, University College London Medical School, London, United Kingdom

Correspondence: Jonathan A. Ledermann, M.D., Department of Oncology, University College London Medical School, 91 Riding House Street, London, W1P 8BT, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44-171-380-9430; Fax: +44-171-436-2956; e-mail: j.ledermann{at}ucl.ac.uk

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common ovarian malignancy. CA125, the glycoprotein defined by the antibody OC 125, is the most important clinical marker for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of epithelial ovarian cancer. However, like most tumor markers, it is neither wholly specific nor sensitive for the disease. We discuss how CA125 in combination with other tests can be used in the differential diagnosis of pelvic masses and as part of the investigations for cancer screening. CA125 is an important indicator of response to treatment, guiding therapeutic decisions and identifying those patients whose response to chemotherapy and survival is short. CA125 has recently been shown to correlate well with response and can be used to define relapse. Thus, it can be used as a surrogate endpoint in the assessment of new therapeutic modalities as well as in reducing the need for tumor imaging. At the moment, the other tumor markers for non-germ-cell neoplasms of the ovary are clinically less important than CA125, but their role alone or in association with CA125 is the subject of intense study as the search for ideal tumor markers to identify early disease, prognosis, and relapse continues.

Key Words. Ovarian cancer • Tumor markers • CA125

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