Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers: Current Options and Future Promise

Authors:
Christine M. Coticchia From Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

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,
Jiang Yang From Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Marsha A. Moses From Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Volume/Issue:
Volume 6: Issue 8
Online Publication Date:
Sep 2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2008.0059
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As more effective, less toxic cancer drugs reach patients, the need for accurate and reliable cancer diagnostics and prognostics has become widely appreciated. Nowhere is this need more dire than in ovarian cancer; here most women are diagnosed late in disease progression. The ability to sensitively and specifically predict the presence of early disease and its status, stage, and associated therapeutic efficacy has the potential to revolutionize ovarian cancer detection and treatment. This article reviews current ovarian cancer diagnostics and prognostics and potential biomarkers that are being studied and validated. Some of the most recent molecular approaches being used to identify genes and proteins are presented, which may represent the next generation of ovarian cancer diagnostics and prognostics.

Correspondence: Marsha A. Moses, PhD, Program in Vascular Biology and Department of Surgery, 12.214, Karp Family Research Building, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: marsha.moses@childrens.harvard.edu

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Print ISSN:
1540-1405
Online ISSN:
1540-1413
Publisher:
National Comprehensive Cancer Network
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Copyright:
Copyright © 2008 by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
Page Numbers:
8
Article Category:
Research Article
Received:
09 May 2008
Accepted:
17 Jun 2008
Print Publication Date:
01 Sep 2008
Online Publication Date:
Sep 2008
Keywords:
Ovarian cancer; biomarkers; diagnostics; prognostics

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