Background: An ovarian cancer marker panel including leptin, prolactin, osteopontin, insulin-like growth factor II (IGFII), macrophage migration inhibitory factor and CA125 was tested for multiplex marker measurement. Multiplex was compared to single assayed tumour markers: CA125, TPS, thymidine kinase, monototal and HE4.
Patients and methods: The serum marker levels in ovarian cancer patients were compared to controls with benign ovarian disease. xMAP technology was used for multiplex panel and routine immunoanalytic methods for other markers.
Results: Considering the multiplexed markers, only CA125(Luminex), osteopontin and IGF-II differed significantly between groups. Levels of all non-multiplexed tumour markers were significantly higher in the cancer group compare to the control.
Conclusion: Multiplex is a powerful tool for multiparametric studies, but we are still in the era of looking for the right marker combinations for cancer diagnostics and monitoring. The panel will be tested on a larger ovarian cancer cohort and in patients with other cancer and non-cancerous diseases.