Recent technical strategies to identify diagnostic biomarkers for ovarian cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among North American women. Regrettably, there is currently no reliable circulating biomarker that can detect ovarian cancer in its early stages. The CA125 biomarker is very useful for treatment response monitoring, but its sensitivity is very low for early detection. Thus, there is an urgent need for the identification of new circulating biomarkers/panel of biomarkers that could be used to diagnose ovarian cancer before it becomes clinically detectable and advanced. Unfortunately, the strategies used in the past years to identify such biomarkers have not led to any outstanding candidate. This review summarizes the different approaches used in the last decade and suggests which strategies should be adopted in the near future in order to lead to the successful identification of new ovarian cancer diagnostic biomarkers.

Keywords::

• biomarker
• diagnosis
• dynamic change
• metabolomics
• ovarian cancer
• proteomics
• sample collection
• strategies
• validation

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the following grants: R21 CA111949-01, R01-CA054419-13 and SPORE (1P50-CA105009-01) from USA National Cancer Institute. The authors also thank Dr Cramer and Dr Berkowitz at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for their strong support and encouragement.