Circulating tumour markers in ovarian tumours.

Many circulating tumour markers are in clinical or experimental use for the management of ovarian tumours. The only marker to have an established role in the diagnosis, monitoring treatment, and detection of relapse of epithelial ovarian cancer (OC) is cancer antigen-125 (CA-125). The place of markers in predicting prognosis, in follow-up, and in screening for OC, is less well defined. This review concentrates on epithelial cancer of the ovary, and on CA-125, the most commonly-used OC marker. Other markers in epithelial OC are also discussed, as well as markers used in the management of germ cell tumours of the ovary, mixed Mullerian tumours, and stromal ovarian tumours.