The Role of Circulating Biomarkers in the Early Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic-related cancer death and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal sub-type. EOC is usually asymptomatic, and few screening tests are available. Diagnosis of ovarian cancer can be difficult because of the nonspecific symptoms. Despite the various diagnostic methods used, there is no reli able early diagnostic test and it needs to be developed. Specific biomarkers may have potential with the least possible invasive procedure. Biomarkers with a high sensitivity to ovarian cancer should be identified. Circulating biomarkers that are significant tools for non-invasive early diagnosis can be analyzed using circulating tumor cells, exosomes, and circulating nucleic acids. Protein, gene, metabolite, and miRNA-based biomarkers can be used for ovarian cancer diagnosis. As non-coding RNAs, MiRNAs may have an important role in ovarian cancer diagnosis due to their effects on mRNA expression lev - els. The most recent developments regarding the potential of circulating biomarkers to detect early ovarian cancer is presented in this chapter.