Elevated serum RANTES levels in patients with ovarian cancer correlate with the extent of the disorder

Objective. To assess the clinical relevance of serum regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) levels in distinguishing patients with ovarian cancers from those with benign ovarian cysts, we measured its concentration with reference to the disease stage, pathological grading, histological subtype, and the residual tumor mass. Methods. Preoperative serum RANTES levels were measured in women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (n = 52), borderline ovarian tumor (n = 6), benign ovarian cysts (n = 28), or normal controls (n = 12) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results. The serum RANTES concentration was significantly elevated in the ovarian cancer patients (median 53 ng/ml, interquartile range 23104 ng/ml) compared to the benign ovarian cyst patients as controls (38 ng/ml, 5-72 ng/ml) values correlating with the stage of disease and the extent of residual tumor mass. No significant correlation between CA125 and RANTES in the serum was observed in either the controls or the ovarian cancer patients. Using a RANTES cutoff of 45 ng/ml and a CA125 cutoff of 35 units/ml, when either marker was elevated, the specificity improved 94%. Conclusion. Our study suggest that preoperative serum RANTES levels may be useful in differentiating benign ovarian tumors from malignancy correlating with the extent of the disorder. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.