Biological markers of prognosis, response to therapy and outcome in ovarian carcinoma.
Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is among the most common types of cancer and is the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies in western countries. Cancer biomarkers have a potential for improving the management of OvCa patients at every point from screening and detection, diagnosis, prognosis, follow up, response to therapy and outcome.



The literature search has indicated a number of candidate biomarkers have recently emerged that could facilitate the molecular definition of OvCa, providing information about prognosis and predicting response to therapy. These potentially promising biomarkers include immune cells and their products, tumor-derived exosomes, nucleic acids and epigenetic biomarkers. Expert commentary: Although most of the biomarkers available today require prospective validation, the development of noninvasive liquid biopsy-based monitoring promises to improve their utility for evaluations of prognosis, response to therapy and outcome in OvCa.
a Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology , Military Institute of Medicine , Warsaw , Poland.|b Department of Immunology, Centre of Biostructure Research , Medical University of Warsaw , Warsaw , Poland.
Marta
M
Szajnik
b Department of Immunology, Centre of Biostructure Research , Medical University of Warsaw , Warsaw , Poland.
Małgorzata
M
Czystowska-Kuźmicz
c Department of Pathology , University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
Esther
E
Elishaev
c Department of Pathology , University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.|d University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
Theresa L
TL
Whiteside
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D055354:Exosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000097:blood; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018394:CA-125 Antigen; C451759:MUC16 protein, human; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D011506:Proteins; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2; C569698:WFDC2 protein, human
Ovarian carcinoma; exosomes; immune biomarkers; microRNAs; serum; tissue