Evaluation of new ovarian cancer markers, STN, CA 546 and CA 72-4 in Thai patients.

ABSTRACT

Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynaecologic malignance. At present, there is no sensitive test to detect early stages of the disease. In our study of 32 ovarian cancer patients admitted in Siriraj Hospital, 3 new tumor makers, STN, CA 546 and CA 72-4 were selected to evaluate for their sensitivity as compared with CA 125 Kit. The best positive rate for non-mucinous type of ovarian cancer was 82% obtained from the CA 125 test while the result for mucinous type was 67% obtained from a combined test of CA 125 and STN. As a requirement for early diagnosis, tests using CA 125 or CA 72-4 showed best sensitivity of 33% in early stages of non-mucinous, while CA 546 test revealed the highest result of 33% for mucinous type. Thus, the combination of new tumor marker assay of STN, CA 546, CA 72-4 together with CA 125 would increase sensitivity in detecting ovarian cancer especially for the mucinous type which is more common in Thailand.