New marker could improve diagnosis of ovarian cancer

Testing for levels of HE4 protein, a 4-disulfide core protein with unknown function, could represent a more accurate method of detecting ovarian cancer than CA125 evaluation, according to a report published in the July 1st issue of Cancer Research.

Previous reports have shown that the HE4 gene is amplified in ovarian cancers, but shows only limited expression in normal tissues.In the new study, Dr. Ingegerd Hellstrom, from the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle, and colleagues quantified HE4 protein levels in women with and without ovarian cancer to determine if the protein was a useful biomarker for ovarian cancer. The researchers created an ELISA assay for HE4 and tested it on sera from 37 women with ovarian cancer, 19 with benign ovarian disease, and 65 healthy asymptomatic controls. The cancer patients included 7 with early stage disease and 30 with late stage disease. For comparison, CA125 testing was also done in all women.The HE4 assay was found to be just as accurate as CA125 testing at differentiating women with cancer from healthy controls. In contrast, HE4 testing was better than CA125 at distinguishing malignant from benign disease.”Although the number of sera from patients with early-stage disease was small, the findings indicate that HE4 is a potentially useful biomarker for ovarian carcinoma,” the researchers point out. Further studies are planned that will include “larger samples of sera from patients with early ovarian carcinoma, benign disease, and high-risk women participating in ovarian cancer screening trials.” (Source: Cancer Res 2003;63:3695-3700: Reuters Health: July 8, 2003: Oncolink)