Ovarian Cancer

Proteintech offers a wide range of markers and related antibodies for ovarian cancer.

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Schema of the ovary showing the histopathological types of ovarian cancer.

Introduction

Ovarian cancer is the fifth-most lethal malignancy in women. It is often referred to as the “silent killer” due to a lack of distinctive symptoms in the early stages that make diagnosis difficult until the disease has progressed to a more advanced state. While ovarian cancers can originate from germ cells or granulosa-theca cells, most arise from epithelial tissue and are hence referred to as epithelial ovarian cancer. Like many other cancers, the key to long-term survival is typically dependent upon early detection prior to metastasis. Proteintech offers a large variety of antibodies, ELISAs, and IHC kits against emerging ovarian cancer biomarkers to help researchers better understand and model disease progression.

Featured Markers

P53

P53 is a prominent tumor suppressor gene that is the most frequently mutated gene in cancer. It’s mutation rate in ovarian cancer is one of the highest with overexpression present in nearly 97% of advanced-grade ovarian cancers. Mutated forms of p53 can function as oncogenes by transactivating genes that promote cell growth and drug resistance. They are also able to escape from proteasomal degradation resulting in longer periods of activity. Proteintech’s p53 antibodies have been cited over 850 times making them a top choice of researchers around the world.

Immunohistochemical analysis of paraffin-embedded human ovary tumor using 21891-1-AP (TP53 antibody) at dilution of 1:100 (under 10x lens).

CA125

CA125, also known as MUC16, is one of the most widely used biomarkers to monitor the progression of ovarian cancer. It is a mucin protein which helps to form a protective barrier against infectious particles in female reproductive tissue through lubrication and maintenance of the mucosa. It is commonly overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissues where it is thought to facilitate tumor metastasis and evasion of host immune responses through inhibition of natural killer cells. Being a cell surface protein, CA125 is also being studied as a target for cancer immunotherapies such as CAR-T.

Immunohistochemical analysis of paraffin-embedded human ovary tumor tissue slide using 20077-1-AP (MUC16, CA125 Antibody) at dilution of 1:200 (under 10x lens).

HE4

Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) was originally discovered in the male reproductive system but was later found to be expressed in several other tissues including lung, kidney, salivary gland, prostate, and breast. It is an emerging biomarker that is thought to have higher sensitivity for ovarian tumors than CA125. However, when used together, both markers can detect ovarian cancer with higher specificity compared to when either is used alone. HE4 is strongly expressed in epithelial ovarian cancer tissue and can hence be used to differentiate these tumors from those that are non-epithelial in origin. It can also be used to distinguish between benign and metastatic ovarian cancer.

Immunohistochemical analysis of paraffin-embedded human ovary tumor tissue slide using 14406-1-AP (HE4 antibody) at dilution of 1:200 (under 10x lens).

Antibodies for Ovarian Cancer Research

Function	Marker	PTG Catalog
Cell Growth	HER2	18299-1-AP
	K-Ras	12063-1-AP
	p53	21891-1-AP
	TFR1/CD71	10084-2-AP
	WT1	12609-1-AP
	VEGF	19003-1-AP
Cell Survival	BCL-2	12789-1-AP
	HSP90	13171-1-AP
	Osteopontin	22952-1-AP
	YKL40	12036-1-AP
Differentiation	CK7	17513-1-AP
	CK20	17329-1-AP
	HE4	14406-1-AP
	KLK8	14232-1-AP
Metastasis	CA125	20077-1-AP
	CD138	10593-1-AP
	IGFBP2	11065-3-AP

IHC Kits for Ovarian Cancer Research

Function	Marker	PTG Catalog
Cell Growth	P53	KHC0079
	TFR1/CD71	KHC0496
	VEGF	KHC0735
Cell Survival	BCL-2	KHC0012
	HSP90	KHC0659
	Osteopontin	KHC0782
Differentiation	CK7	KHC0204, KHC0748
	CK20	KHC0034

ELISA Kits for Serum Biomarkers

Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed through detection of secreted proteins in patient serum. Depending of the stage of disease, some of these proteins may be highly elevated and can hence be used as markers of prognosis. Proteintech’s ELISA kits are highly sensitive and have been validated in several different sample sources including serum, plasma, and cell lysate supernatants.  

PTG Catalog	Marker	Range	Sensitivity
KE00132	AFP	15.6-1000 pg/mL	0.1 pg/mL
KE00157	APOA1	0.47-30 ng/mL	0.03 ng/mL
KE00265	HE4	46.88-3000 pg/mL	2.8 pg/mL
KE00287	LDH	0.625-40 ng/mL	0.04 ng/mL
KE00233	Osteopontin	31.25-2000 pg/mL	1.85 pg/mL
KE00046	Transferrin	1.56-100 ng/mL	0.6 ng/mL
KE00216	VEGF	31.25-2000 pg/mL	1 pg/mL

References

Aithal, A., Rachagani, S., Kshirsagar, P., Shah, A., Lakshmanan, I., Junker, W. M., Jain, M., Ponnusamy, M. P., & Batra, S. K. (2018). MUC16 as a novel target for cancer therapy. Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 22(8), 675–686. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728222.2018.1498845

Atallah, G. A., Aziz, N. a. A., Chew, K. T., Shafiee, M. N., & Kampan, N. C. (2021). New Predictive Biomarkers for Ovarian Cancer. Diagnostics, 11(3), 465. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030465

Dochez, V., Caillon, H., Vaucel, E., Dimet, J., Winer, N., & Ducarme, G. (2019). Biomarkers and algorithms for diagnosis of ovarian cancer: CA125, HE4, RMI and ROMA, a review. Journal of Ovarian Research, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13048-019-0503-7

Kolesar, J. M. (2017). A Perspective on Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers: Past, Present and Yet-To-Come. Diagnostics, 7(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics7010014

Li, J., Dowdy, S. C., Tipton, T., Podratz, K. C., Lu, W., Xie, X., & Jiang, S. W. (2009). HE4 as a biomarker for ovarian and endometrial cancer management. Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 9(6), 555–566. https://doi.org/10.1586/erm.09.39

Ozaki, T., & Nakagawara, A. (2011). Role of p53 in Cell Death and Human Cancers. Cancers, 3(1), 994–1013. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers3010994