New Biomarker of Ovarian Cancer Found

A three-year study of hundreds of women has demonstrated that lysophospholipids are present in high levels in women with ovarian cancer but low in healthy women, a finding that could lead to a simple blood test for ovarian cancer. The findings were published in the July 7, 2004, issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Lysophospholipids were first identified as a potential biomarker by Yan Xu, of The Cleveland Clinic (OH, USA), also one of the authors of the current study, the first study to confirm his hunch. This study, in contrast to earlier studies, employed exacting standards for delivery and processing prior to liquid chromatography spectroscopy assays. In 93% of cases, the blood test was an accurate predictor of whether a woman had ovarian cancer. Less then 4% of the 117 women in the study could be characterized as false-positives. According to the researchers, almost all healthy women have low levels of lysophospholipids.

"Two-thirds of the patients are diagnosed when the cancer is already advanced to stage three or four,” noted principal author Rebecca Sutphen, M.D., of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida (Tampa, USA). "At that point, the cure rate is only in the range of 25%. The problem has always been that we have no early detection strategy.”




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H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center