Table 1.
Putative biomarkers for ovarian and endometrial carcinomas.
| Name | Marker type | Malignancy | Site | Sample size | Application/indication | Sensitivity/specificity | Additional remarks | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathepsin B | Protein | EC | Paraffin-embedded tissue | 64 EC tissue; 12 normal | Prognosis/tumor aggressiveness and survival prediction | N/A | Cathepsin-B levels determined by immunostaining | [82] |
| IL-6 | Protein | EC | Serum | 20 healthy women; 19 benign disease; 19 EC; 13USPC | Diagnosis/differentiating marker for USPC | N/A | IL-6 slightly elevated in EC; significantly elevated in USPC | [83] |
| YKL-40 | Protein | EOC | Serum | 19 borderline tumors; 76 EOC | Treatment monitoring/predictor of survival and chemoresistance to second-line treatment | N/A | Elevated in 65% stage I and II EOC;74-91% stage III and IV | [84-86] |
| Glycan markers | Oligosaccharide | EOC | Serum | 48 EOC; 24 healthy controls | Diagnosis/potential screening tool | 91.6/95.8% | N/A | [87] |
| ERCC5 | Gene | EOC | N/A | LOH analyzed in 52 samples; mRNA measured in 90 tumors | Treatment monitoring/indicator of resistance to platinum chemotherapy | N/A | ERCC5 codes for XPG protein, a key factor in the nucleotide excision repair pathway | [88] |
| c0* and rc1‡ of CA-125, KLK5 and KLK7 | Protein panel | EOC | Serum | 98 EOC (14 Stage I, 5 II, 73 III and 6 IV) | Treatment monitoring/indicator of response to chemotherapy | AUC = 0.82 | N/A | [89] |
| c0* of KLK7, KL10, B7-H4 and spondin2 | Protein panel | EOC | Serum | 98 EOC (14 Stage I, 5 II, 73 III and 6 IV) | Post-surgical monitoring/predictor of short-term (1-year) survival | AUC = 0.89 | N/A | [89] |
| Leptin, prolactin, osteopontin, IGF II, macrophage inhibitory factor and CA-125 | Protein panel | EOC | Serum | 156 EOC; 362 healthy controls | Diagnosis/potential screening tool | 84-98/95% | Three different platforms tested, two sample cohorts employed | [90] |
| PRL | Protein | EC | Serum | 115 EC; 135 healthy controls | Diagnosis/potential screening tool | 98.3/98.0% | Stage l-lll patients investigated | [91] |
| hK6 | Protein | EC | Serum | 22 healthy women; 20 benign disease; 20 EC; 17USPC | Diagnosis/differentiating marker for USPC | N/A | hK6 serum levels comparable in benign, healthy and EC, but elevated in USPC | [92] |
| UPAR | Protein | EC | Paraffin-embedded tissue | 58 subjects with EC | Prognosis/marker for aggressive EC | N/A | UPAR levels determined by immunostaining | [93] |
| Bcl-2 | Protein | EOC | Urine | 77 healthy women; 161 benign disease; 150EOC | Diagnosis/distinguishing EOC from healthy subjects and benign gynecologic disease | N/A | Bcl-2 levels examined by ELISA in subject urine samples | [94] |
| CK-20 | mRNA | EC | EC tissue | 20 EC; 5 healthy controls | Prognosis/detection of micrometastasis in lymph nodes | 100/76% | CK-20 expression levels determined by RT-PCR | [95] |
*
c0 refers to the marker level prior to treatment; c1 is the level after the first treatment.
‡
rc1 is the log(c0/c1), used for comparing pre- and post-treatment levels.
AUC: Area under the curve; Bcl-2: B-cell lymphoma 2; CK: Cytokeratin; EC: Endometrial carcinoma; EOC: Epithelial ovarian cancer; ERCC5: Excision repair cross-complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 5; hK6: Human kallikrein-6; LOH: Loss of heterozygosity; N/A: Not applicable; PRL: Prolactin; RT: Real time; UPAR: Urokinase plasminogen activator receptor; USPC: Uterine serous papillary carcinoma; XPG: Xeroderma pigmentosum, complementation group G; YKL-40: Chitinase-3-like-1.