Project 467118

Ovarian cancer (OVCA) is the most lethal gynecological disease. Unfortunately, less than half of those diagnosed with OVCA will live to see the next 5 years. One of the reasons for this low survival rate is because OVCA is not usually diagnosed until advanced stages of cancer. The biomarker currently used for OVCA diagnosis, CA125, is not ideal for early diagnosis because it is inconsistently elevated in early stages. Thus, a more reliable and robust biomarker is needed to diagnose OVCA earlier. We propose plasma gelsolin (pGSN), an actin binding protein in the blood, as a biomarker for early OVCA diagnosis. This protein is secreted via small extracellular vesicles (exosomes) from OVCA cells and is elevated in stage 1 of the disease. We therefore propose that exosomal pGSN will be an even more sensitive biomarker for early diagnosis. In this study, we will measure total pGSN and exosomal pGSN in plasma samples from OVCA patients. The results will be related to patients clinical information such as FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage, OVCA histopathological subtype, chemoresponsiveness, and patient survival, allowing us to determine pGSN performance as a biomarker of early-stage OVCA diagnosis. When patients are diagnosed with OVCA in stage 1, the 5-year survival rate is around 90%, highlighting the importance of catching this disease as early as possible. This study will provide evidence of pGSN as a biomarker for early OVCA diagnosis, thus improving patient survival.