Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc. has announced the publication of data validating the use of its protein biomarkers to discriminate women with ovarian cancer from women with benign ovarian tumors and other non-gynecologic diseases. The data appear in the current issue of cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention.

"New biomarkers that improve the diagnostic performance of existing tumor markers for ovarian cancer are critically needed," said Eric T Fung, MD, PhD., chief scientific officer for Ciphergen Biosystems. "These results further validate Ciphergen's panel of biomarkers, which we believe can help differentiate women with ovarian cancer from women with benign disease."

Using proteomic profiling based on SELDI technology, this study successfully reproduced findings from an earlier study (1) in an independent study population. Unlike the earlier study that compared women with ovarian cancer and healthy controls, this study evaluated the power of the markers to discriminate 42 women with ovarian cancer from 65 women with benign ovarian tumors and 76 women with gastrointestinal disorders. A class prediction algorithm using the markers in combination with age had specificity of 94.3 per cent and sensitivity of 78.6 per cent. As in the previous study, this study demonstrated that these markers improved specificity in distinguishing ovarian cancer from other diseases, including benign ovarian disease.