Emerging Protein Biomarkers in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Prognosis: An Aid for Multivariate Indexing
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a chronic and degenerative disease propelled by a
mutation in BRCA1/2 genes, familial history, smoking and polycystic ovary syndrome. Although
the lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is low, yet it is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
Surprisingly, EOC represents 90% of all ovarian cancers, out of which 70% of women are diagnosed
with the malignancy at its advanced III-IV stages. Early detection may increase the life expectancy
up to 5 years. Thus, it has become the need of the hour to attain improvement of clinical
outcomes of EOC and improve the life expectancy of patients. A plethora of proteins in different
biological fluids may serve as prospective identifiers for the disease. Over the years, accurate identification
of proteins secreted by EOC cells has been perfected by in vitro and in silico state-of-theart
technologies. Multivariate test, consisting of histo-pathological data in combination with protein
biomarker panel has paved way for enhanced and accurate assessment of EOC; still, there is a
chance of further improvement. This review encompasses the advances made in ovarian cancer
biomarker discovery and demonstrates their potential usefulness for the design of early diagnostics
of EOC.
