title: Elevated serum RANTES levels in patients with ovarian cancer correlate with the extent of the disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical relevance of serum regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) levels in distinguishing patients with ovarian cancers from those with benign ovarian cysts, we measured its concentration with reference to the disease stage, pathological grading, histological subtype, and the residual tumor mass.
  
  
  METHODS
  Preoperative serum RANTES levels were measured in women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (n = 52), borderline ovarian tumor (n = 6), benign ovarian cysts (n = 28), or normal controls (n = 12) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum RANTES concentration was significantly elevated in the ovarian cancer patients (median 53 ng/ml, interquartile range 23-104 ng/ml) compared to the benign ovarian cyst patients as controls (38 ng/ml, 5-72 ng/ml) values correlating with the stage of disease and the extent of residual tumor mass. No significant correlation between CA125 and RANTES in the serum was observed in either the controls or the ovarian cancer patients. Using a RANTES cutoff of 45 ng/ml and a CA125 cutoff of 35 units/ml, when either marker was elevated, the specificity improved 94%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggest that preoperative serum RANTES levels may be useful in differentiating benign ovarian tumors from malignancy correlating with the extent of the disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagoya City University, Graduate School of Medicine, 1 Kawasumi, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan.
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsukishiro
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suzumori
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzumori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000097:blood*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018394:CA-125 Antigen; D018946:Chemokine CCL5