A study of diagnostic value of plasma lysophosphatidic acid for ovarian epithelial cancer

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of plasma lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) for ovarian epithelial cancer.Methods A research assay was used to measure the LPA levels in plasma from ovarian epithlial cancer, benign ovarian neoplasm or ovarian endometriosis cysts. The assay of plasma LPA and CA125 were performed by observers blinded to patient status. Results Patients in the ovarian cancer group had significantly higher plasma LPA (6±2.4μmol/L) and CA125 (275.8±191.7 U/mL) levels compared with the control group (2.4±1.6μmol/L, 51.0±44.2 U/mL ) (P0.01) . The sensitivity and specificity of plasma LPA for ovarian epithelial cancer are 93.5% and 71.7% , and the specificity is statistically higher than that of CA125 (39.1 % , P = 0.002) . Conclusions Plasma LPA levels may represent a potential marker for ovarian epithelial cancer.