Serum tumor markers for screening and early diagnosis of ovarian cancer

Discovery of new biomarkers or panels of biomarkers for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is one of the great challenges of modern medicine. The use of determination of CA125 (the most commonly used biomarker) was improved by taking into account the dynamic values available in the context of screening. Currently, the highest sensitivity of screening tests performed for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is 96% and was obtained using a panel of serum biomarkers composed of apolipoprotein A1, transthyretin, transferrin and CA125. This paper presents different types of serum proteins that are currently studied, and should be proposed as new biomarkers for detecting ovarian cancer. Future research needs to be conducted in order to find a new tumor marker panel that is quantitative, reproducible, and fast and has an even higher sensitivity and specificity for the early detection of ovarian cancer.