Increases urinary HMGA1 in serous epithelial ovarian cancer patients.

Abstract

Serous epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common variety of ovarian cancer and is currently diagnosed using serum CA-125 levels. HMGA1 a small 10.6-12 kDa protein, has been implicated as a potentially important tumor biomarker and may enter the urinary trace, thus potentially able to serve as a disease biomarker. To determine if urine HMGA1 can be detected and potentially serve as a clinical diagnostic biomarkers. Urine was collected from 20 healthy normal control patients, 20 patients with benign gynecological disease and 55 epithelial ovarian specimens of which 20 exhibited G1/2 ovarian cancer and 35 G3 ovarian cancers. Serum was also collected from 20 healthy normal control patients and 55 serous epithelial ovarian cancers patients. HMGA1 levels were examined via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and were reported independently and normalized to urine creatinine levels. Serum CA-125 levels were examined via enzyme assay and the data was analyzed via box and ROC analysis. Urine HMGA1 was significantly elevated in serous epithelial ovarian cancer specimen relative to healthy control specimens with G3 specimens exhibiting higher levels than G1-G2 specimens. ROC analysis revealed a high degree of sensitivity and specificity for urine HMGA1 detection in ovarian cancer, with a higher AUC value noted for urine HMGA1 than serum CA-125. Furthermore, urine HMGA1 and serum CA-125 combined AUC indicated that urine HMGA1 is an excellent diagnostic biomarker for serous epithelial ovarian cancer. Our data indicates that measuring urine HMGA1 may serve as a useful diagnostic tool.