Current diagnostic and prognostic tumor biomarkers in use for the prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer are inadequate. Dr. Robin Farias-Eisner and colleagues have recently demonstrated that serum CA-125 levels, the most commonly utilized biomarker for clinical screening and prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer, do not predict the outcome of cytoreductive surgery in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. The creation of a panel of biomarker proteins for the early detection and predictive of clinical outcome for any type of cancer is a goal of many researchers and clinicians fighting the war against cancer.

Farias-Eisner's laboratory has published the first report identifying three ovarian cancer biomarker protein panels that, when used together, effectively distinguished serum samples from healthy controls and patients with either benign or malignant ovarian neoplasia. Furthermore, the researchers have now confirmed the identity of five of the fourteen proteins. They believe that a relationship may exist between HDL-associated proteins and ovarian cancer and that a disruption in the balance of these proteins may play an important role in the development and progression of ovarian cancer.