Serum autotaxin is not a useful biomarker for ovarian cancer.
Autotaxin (ATX) is a glycoprotein that was first identified in the conditioned medium of human melanoma cells as an autocrine motility factor. It possesses lysophospholipase D activity, producing the bioactive lipid mediator lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) from lysophosphatidylcholine. Enhanced expression of ATX mRNA has been reported in various cancer cells and tissues, and it has been speculated that ATX overexpression in cancer cells may be associated with aberrant LPA production. LPA and ATX have been implicated in cancer progression and metastasis, and ovarian cancer is a representative example. In the present study, we measured the serum ATX antigen levels in patients with ovarian cancer and evaluated the usefulness of this parameter for clinical laboratory testing. The serum ATX antigen levels were not increased in ovarian cancer patients as compared with the levels in healthy subjects, and the serum ATX may not be useful as a biomarker for ovarian cancer.
Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. nakamurak.lab@gmail.com
Kazuhiro
K
Nakamura
Koji
K
Igarashi
Ryunosuke
R
Ohkawa
Hiromitsu
H
Yokota
Akiko
A
Masuda
Shunsuke
S
Nakagawa
Tetsu
T
Yano
Hitoshi
H
Ikeda
Junken
J
Aoki
Yutaka
Y
Yatomi
D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / Q000097:blood*; D012015:Reference Standards; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D