Research on application value of combined detection of serum CA125, HE4 and TK1 in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer

Q.-P. Xi, D.-H. Pu, W.-N. Lu

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Changshu No. 1 People’s Hospital, Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China. 815967404@qq.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of joint examination of cancer antigen 125 (CA125), thymidine kinase-1 (TK1) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in the serum of patients with ovarian cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 75 ovarian cancer specimens (ovarian cancer group), 40 benign ovarian specimens (benign group) and 35 ovarian specimens of healthy women (normal control group) were collected. The serum levels of HE4, CA125 and TK1 and the positive detection rates in the three groups were compared. Meanwhile, the sensitivity and specificity of the three tumor markers in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the three groups were compared.

RESULTS: The levels of HE4, CA125 and TK1 in the ovarian cancer group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05), and those in the ovarian cancer group were significantly higher than those in the benign group (p<0.05). The positive rates of CA125 as well as TK1 in the ovarian cancer group and the benign group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05), and those in the ovarian cancer group were significantly higher than those in the benign group (p<0.05). In the detection of an individual tumor marker, the sensitivity of CA125 was the highest, followed by HE4. The specificity of HE4 was the highest, followed by TK1. For the combination of two tumor markers, the sensitivity of CA125+HE4 ranked the first (92.18%), and the specificity of TK1+HE4 ranked the first (88.37%). The sensitivity and specificity of the joint detection of CA125+HE4+TK1 were 94.18% and 79.53%, respectively. The sensitivity of the joint detection of CA125+HE4+TK1 was significantly higher than that of the detection of a single tumor marker and that of joint detection of two tumor markers (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Combined detection of CA125, HE4 and TK1 can significantly improve the sensitivity in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

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