New Biomarkers Tests for Ovarian Cancer

Great new article about new biomarker testing at the end of this year concerning ovarian cancer. Every woman needs to read this to educate yourself and share with others about what is involved with this life threatening cancer.

Autotelic Lab, Fountain Valley, a developer of quantitative rapid tests, announced today that it will be presenting a poster “The Hormones BNP and FSH in Ovarian Cancer: Potential as Diagnostic Biomarkers” at ENDO 2012. Ovarian cancer accounts for approximately 3 percent of all cancers in women and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States. Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality of all cancers of the female reproductive system. This reflects, in part, a lack of early symptoms and effective ovarian cancer screening tests. Thus, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, after the cancer has spread beyond the ovary. Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125, aka Mucin16) is overproduced by ovarian cancer cells; however, it cannot be used as a diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer as it can be absent when disease is present, or levels can be high when no disease or no malignant disease exists. Serial changes in CA125 levels, if elevated, however, can be useful in assessment of disease status and progression. Ovarian epithelial cancer is more common in individuals with elevated Gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRH) including Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) such as postmenopausal women or women who have received treatment to induce ovulation. Conversely, reduced risk of ovarian cancer is associated with a history of multiple pregnancies, breastfeeding, oral contraceptive use, and estrogen replacement therapy, all of which are related to lower levels of and reduced exposure to FSH and LH. FSH regulates gene expression in ovarian tumors and causes neovascularization of ovarian cancers by increasing Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) expression through upregulation of survivin. We therefore examined FSH levels in relation to CA125 as potential diagnostic marker for ovarian cancer using a quantitative point-of-care device for FSH that was recently developed for therapeutic drug monitoring. The surprising potential of FSH and/or Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) as diagnostic biomarkers for ovarian cancer will be presented.

These tests are performed on serum from a blood draw. It usually take a few days to get the results,but are very informative for the oncologist as far as plan of treatment.

                                  An Inspiring Story of a woman (physician) Diagnosed With Ovarian

Cancerhttp://news.topwirenews.com/2012/06/23/fsh-and-bnp-as-potential-diagnostic-biomarker-for-ovarian-cancer/%