title: Is serum level of nestin useful in detecting epithelial ovarian cancer?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of nestin as a discriminative marker between benign and malignant ovarian tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the 1 year from January 2015 through December 2015, a nonconsecutive series of 80 patients (40 malignant, 40 benign) who underwent surgery for an adnexal mass were enrolled in the study. Intraoperative frozen section evaluation was performed if there was a suspicion in diagnosis. Statistical analyses were performed using spss ver. 16.0, while clinicopathological variables, including the categorical data, were analyzed using the χ2-test or Fisher's exact test. A P-value < 0.05 was defined as statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preoperative serum carbohydrate antigen (CA)-125, CA-15-3, and nestin levels were significantly higher in the malignant group compared to patients with benign ovarian tumors (P < 0.001, respectively). Serum nestin levels did not differ significantly on the basis of histologic subtypes. Serum nestin levels had specificity of 89.7%, which demonstrates nestin's sufficiency to distinguish benign from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors. The positive likelihood ratio of nestin was found to be superior to that of CA-125 and CA-15-3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results obtained from our study suggest that measurement of nestin level, alongside physical examination, transvaginal ultrasound, and serum CA-125 and CA-15-3 levels, can help differentiate benign ovarian tumors from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors. The findings of our study need to be supported with additional studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Veysel
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sal
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilker
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kahramanoglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tugan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bese
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Demirkiran
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nigar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sofiyeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Istanbul Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zeynep
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Soyman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sinem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Durmus
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Remisa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gelisgen
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Macit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arvas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hafize
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uzun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D064231:Nestin / Q000097:blood*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D064231:Nestin
keywords: CA-125; marker; nestin; ovarian cancer; screening