Rising serum CA-125 levels within the normal range is strongly associated recurrence risk and survival of ovarian cancer

Abstract

Background: In clinical practice alterations in CA-125 concentration within normal range in patients with ovarian cancer after first-line treatment are common. Even minor increase in CA-125 concentration is associated with patients' anxiety and difficult interpretation and counselling for clinicians. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of CA-125 fluctuations within reference level in patients who suffered from ovarian cancer with complete response after first-line treatment. Results: 168 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, who achieved complete remission after first line treatment were enrolled in the study. CA-125 concentration assessment was carried out during follow up visits. The recurrence of the disease was diagnosed on the first appearance of symptoms: clinical, radiological or histopathological/cytological. PFS and 5-year survival rate was calculated with Kaplan-Meier plots. Statistical analysis was performed with SAS / STAT® 9.4 / 14.4, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA, 2017. Median concentration of CA-125 after first-line therapy was 10 U/ml. Increasing CA-125 concentration by > 5 U/ml, 3 and 6 months after the treatment was associated with higher risk of relapse (HR = 7.6, p < 0.0001 and HR = 5.29, p < 0.0001 respectively). 5year survival rate was significantly lower in patients with increased CA-125 by 5 U/ml, 3 and 6 months after therapy (56.79% vs 0 and 50.62% vs 15.55%). Conclusions: Increased concentration of CA-125 by > 5 U/ml within normal range, 3 and 6 months after treatment was unfavorable prognostic factor in ovarian cancer patients with complete response to primary therapy.

Nadir CA-125 has prognostic value for recurrence, but not for survival in patients with ovarian cancer

“…The study group was described in detail in a previous paper 27 . Briefly, 168 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who achieved a complete response after first-line treatment were enrolled in the study.…”

A Novel Defined Risk Signature of the Ferroptosis-Related Genes for Predicting the Prognosis of Ovarian Cancer

“…As the current treatment measures are not promising, identifying reliable prognostic biomarkers is important to prolong the survival time of OC patients. In clinical practice, CA-125 and Human epididymis protein 4 ( HE4 ) were the most commonly used predictive markers (Piatek et al, 2020 ; Salminen et al, 2020 ). Besides, recent studies indicated that some microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were also associated with the prognosis of OC (Nam et al, 2008 ; Qiu et al, 2014 ).…”

Nadir CA-125&nbsp;Is Prognostic for Recurrence, but Not for Survival in Patients With Ovarian Cancer

“…The detailed characteristics of the study group was presented in our previous paper (10) and showed in Table 1. Almost 70% of women were diagnosed in advanced stage.…”

“…Patients' characteristics. The data in the table corresponds to those presented in the previous study(10).…”

“…Study group was presented in details in previous paper (10). Brie y, 168 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, who achieved complete response after rst-line treatment were enrolled in the study.…”