Ovarian cancer remains a major diagnostic and therapeutic problem in modern gynecological oncology. For this reason, research which focuses on the search for new diagnostic markers and the assessment of their possible usefulness in clinical practice is still being conducted. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 in women with ovarian cancer. Patients with ovarian serous cystadenoma (Cystadenoma serosum) and papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma (Cystadenocarcinoma papillare serosum IIIC) were included in the study, as well as healthy women who constituted the control group. The results of the study revealed a statistically significantly decreased mean serum levels of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 in women with ovarian cancer as compared to the control group (p ˂ 0.001), which indicates the involvement of the studied parameters in immune system disturbances occurring in the process of apoptosis by the extrinsic and intrinsic pathway and may be one of the mechanisms of immunosuppression accompanying these tumors. Determination of serum levels of examined caspases and CA 125 antigen in women with ovarian cancer in combination with other markers may prove useful in the future in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, but this requires further studies.
Keywords: apoptosis; caspase-3; caspase-8; caspase-9; ovarian cancer.