264 Serum markers and cytokines in patients with ovarian cancer, endometriosis or other benign ovarian tumours

Introduction/Background The gold standard of serum tumour markers to detect ovarian cancer is cancer antigen 125 (CA125), human epididimis protein-4 (HE-4) and risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA). However there is still need to improve its accuracy. Cytokines play a crucial role in tumour growth and progression according to proangiogenic and immunosuppressive acting. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of serum levels of selected cytokines in preoperative diagnosing of adnexal mass. Methodology The study group consisted of 120 patients: 35 with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and 85 with benign ovarian tumours (24 teratomas, 27 endometriotic and 34 other epithelial). We measured in sera obtained preoperatively the level of CA125, HE-4 and the panel of 6 cytokines: interleukin (IL) 1β, 6, 8, 10, 12, tumour necrosis factor (TNF) using cytometric bead array (CBA) and one chemokine CXCL1/GRO-α by ELISA method. Results Serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and CXCL1/GRO-α were significantly higher in patients with ovarian cancer (2045 pg/ml; 208; 32; 356 pg/ml, respectively) than in women with benign ovarian tumours (17 pg/ml; 29; 16; 127 pg/ml, respectively). The similar pattern was present with standard ovarian cancer markers – CA125 (959 vs 43 U/ml) and HE-4 (534 vs 51 pmol/l). Other investigated cytokines had similar levels in all groups of patients. Analyzing the differences in the subgroups of women with benign ovarian tumours we didn’t observe any significant except CA125 and IL-8; they were slightly elevated in cases of endometriotic ovarian cysts. Conclusion Proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8), immunosuppressive (IL-10) and CXCL1/GRO-α were elevated in sera of EOC patients what points on their role in cancer development. Moreover, they might be useful in preoperative differential diagnosis of ovarian tumors, as a supplemental markers especially as they were not elevated in cases of endometriosis. Disclosures All authors report no conflict of interest.