The study looked at whether measuring kisspeptin mRNA and the cancer marker CA125 in blood can help spot ovarian cancer in women who have been pregnant before. It found both markers can detect cancer, but the combination works best for overall detection, not specifically for early or advanced stages.

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of peripheral blood kisspeptin (KISS1) mRNA and plasma cancer antigen 125 (CA125) protein of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in previously pregnant patients, we prospectively enrolled 40 EOC patients as cases and 20 uterine fibroids patients with normal ovary as controls. Levels of peripheral blood KISS1 mRNA and plasma CA125 protein was respectively measured by RT-PCR and electrochemiluminescent method, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curves with area under curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy. Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain a prediction model for combined diagnosis of KISS1 mRNA and CA125 protein. Both KISS1 mRNA and CA125 protein and had good diagnostic accuracy for EOC, early EOC and advanced EOC (AUC > 0.5, P < 0.05). The CA125 protein had higher diagnostic accuracy than KISS1 mRNA for advanced EOC (P = 0.0009). Moreover, the combination of KISS1 mRNA and CA125 protein had higher diagnostic accuracy for EOC than them alone (P 0.05). Peripheral blood KISS1 mRNA was a novel biomarker for detecting EOC in previously pregnant patients. Combination application of KISS1 mRNA and CA125 protein was recommended for the diagnosis of EOC, but not for advanced and early EOC.