A study of ovarian cancer biomarker amplification using ultrasound for early stage detection

The application of serum biomarker to ovarian tumors for early stage detection and clinical diagnosis is a rapidly expanding research area. The problem with conventional markers is that they are often released too late or at too low a level to be detected in time to trigger effective treatment. Ultrasound has been used to influence bio-effects in living cells, but there is only one reported case of the use of ultrasound to enhance the release of a biomarker (Carcinoembryonic antigen CEA). In this study we report the use of ultrasound to enhance the release of a combination of ovarian cancer biomarkers (CA125 and CA19-9) to help in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer at an early stage. The results indicated that after 5 min sonication at a frequency of 1 MHz and intensity of 0.3Wcm(-2), the CA125 and CA19-9 levels were increased by 2.02 and 4.21-fold respectively. These findings suggest that ultrasonic treatment can be used to enhance the release of serum biomarkers from ovarian tumors. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.