As A Biomarker
CA-125 is the most frequently used biomarker for ovarian cancer detection. Around 90% of women with advanced ovarian cancer have elevated levels of CA-125 in their blood serum, making CA-125 a useful tool for detecting ovarian cancer after the onset of symptoms. Monitoring CA-125 blood serum levels is also useful for determining how ovarian cancer is responding to treatment and for predicting a patient’s prognosis after treatment. This is because the persistence of high levels of CA-125 during therapy is associated with poor survival rates in patients. Also, an increase in CA-125 levels within individuals in a remission is a strong predictor of the recurrence of ovarian cancer.
In April 2011 the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended that women with symptoms that could be caused by ovarian cancer should be offered a CA-125 blood test. The aim of this guideline is to help diagnose the disease at an earlier stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. Women with higher levels of the marker in their blood would then be offered an ultrasound scan to determine whether they need further tests.
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