Abstract
Proper preoperative ovarian cancer (OC) diagnosis remains challenging. Serum free amino acid (SFAA) profiles were investigated to identify potential novel biomarkers of OC and assess their performance in ovarian tumor differential diagnosis. Serum samples were divided based on the histopathological result: epithelial OC (n = 38), borderline ovarian tumors (n = 6), and benign ovarian tumors (BOTs) (n = 62). SFAA profiles were evaluated using aTRAQ methodology based on high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). Levels of eleven amino acids significantly differed between OC+borderline and BOTs. The highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC of ROC) (0.787) was obtained for histidine. Cystine and histidine were identified as best single markers for early stage OC/BOT and type I OC. For advanced stage OC, seven amino acids differed significantly between the groups and citrulline obtained the best AUC of 0.807. Between type II OC and BOTs, eight amino acids differed significantly and the highest AUC of 0.798 was achieved by histidine and citrulline (AUC of 0.778). Histidine was identified as a potential new biomarker in differential diagnosis of ovarian tumors. Adding histidine to a multimarker panel together with CA125 and HE4 improved the differential diagnosis between OC and BOTs.
Highlights
The research for elaborating efficient ovarian cancer (OC) diagnostic tools has been ongoing for decades
We have previously showed that the serum free amino acid (SFAA) profiles are altered in ovarian cancer patients [6] and investigated the role of amino acid profiling in screening for OC
As mentioned above, the changes in histidine and tryptophan may be observed in other cancers, this study focused on amino acid profiling for distinguishing benign and malignant ovarian tumors, i.e., the situation in which a pathology in the ovaries is already detected by imaging methods
Summary
The research for elaborating efficient ovarian cancer (OC) diagnostic tools has been ongoing for decades. No screening method is available and the disease has a highly unfavorable prognosis, mainly due to the fact that over 70% of the patients are diagnosed in late stages, i.e., stage III and IV according to the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). And specific diagnosis is essential to improve the treatment outcome, because five year survival rates for FIGO stage I reach 90%, compared to about 30% for advanced disease (FIGO stage III–IV) [1]. One of the challenges in OC diagnosis is the correct differentiation of ovarian tumors noticed on routine transvaginal ultrasound examination. Proper preoperative risk-ofmalignancy assessment is very important for making clinical decisions and treatment planning. Low-risk tumors can be followed up and re-assessed by imaging methods after a certain period of time or operated conservatively, ensuring fertility-sparing, and in a less invasive way (e.g., unilateral laparoscopic tumorectomy).
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