Role of serum levels of five proteins in diagnosis of ovarian tumors
General Medicine, 2025, 27(3), 37-47.
V. Racheva1,2, Z. Gorcheva2,3
1 Clinical Laboratory, UMHAT „Sv. Marina“ ‒ Pleven
2 Medical University – Pleven
3 Clinic of Internal Medicine, UMHAT „Sv. Marina“ ‒ Pleven
Abstract. Ovarian tumors are a health problem for women. In most cases they remain undetected until they reach an advanced stage, which leads to complex and prolonged treatment and reduced survival. All gynecologists are often faced with ovarian tumors and accurate preoperative diagnosis is important, because the type of tumor depends on the subsequent treatment and survival of the patient. Abundant evidence suggests that about 60% of ovarian malignancies are diagnosed at a late stage and their 5-year survival rate is less than 30%, and over 200 000 cases of ovarian carcinoma are diagnosed annually worldwide. Therefore, timely and accurate diagnosis, combining clinical and laboratory data, is important. The use of laboratory tests and tumor markers that can be obtained by minimally invasive methods can help in the diagnosis of ovarian tumors. There are many tumor markers. However, most of the markers are not specific for a single tumor. The development of different biomarker panels and algorithms may improve the diagnostic accuracy in ovarian tumors. This review provides information on the changes occurring in the concentrations of five serum proteins – prealbumin (transthyretin), transferrin, ApoA1 lipoprotein, β2- microglobulin and CA125 in women with ovarian tumors. In our study, we analyzed the informative value of these proteins and assessed their diagnostic capabilities for detecting ovarian tumors.
Key words: ovarian tumor, transthyretin (prealbumin), transferrin, β2-microglobulin, apoA1 lipoprotein, CA 125, diagnostic specificity, diagnostic sensitivity
Address for correspondence: Valeriya Racheva, MD, PhD, e-mail: