Abstract 4582: Haptoglobin proved to be a novel biomarker for intra-operative triage of epithelial ovarian cancer at early stage

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Ill.), 2010-04, Vol.70 (8_Supplement), p.4582-4582
• Main Authors: Liu, Lin, Zhao, Changqing, Annamalai, Loganath, Kothandaraman, Narasimhan, Biswas, Arijit, Choolani, Mahesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445
• DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.AM10-4582

Introduction Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related deaths worldwide, and the prognosis can be greatly improved if cancer is detected at early stage. Intra-operative suspicion of malignancy for women going for ovarian cystectomy is critical for triage of patients for the most suitable surgical procedures. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of haptoglobin level in ovarian cyst fluid as a potential biomarker for intra-operative triage of EOC in both local (Singapore) and regional (Indonesia and Vietnam) centers and to explore its possible clinical applications. Methods We measured haptoglobin concentration in ovarian cyst fluid samples, that were carefully collected during surgery without spillage, from 116 benign tumors, 24 early stage and 31 late stage cancers in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital in Singapore and 6 regional centers in Southeast Asia from 2004-2009, using an in-house sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We also tested the feasibility of using a rapid colorimetric assay which measures haptoglobin in 5 minutes and could be potentially used in the operation theater for intra-operative cancer triage and compared it with ELISA and frozen section results. Results Our data indicated that cyst fluid haptoglobin level was significantly elevated in both early and late stage EOCs (6.51±2.2 and 6.00±1.9 mg/ml, respectively) as compared to benign tumors (0.83±0.9 mg/ml, p