Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2021 Jun;21(6):535-545. doi: 10.1080/14737159.2021.1924680. Epub 2021 May 14.
Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest malignancies among women worldwide. The lack of early diagnostic markers fuels an unfavorable prognosis as most patients are at an advanced stage when the disease is diagnosed for the first time. The role of the kallikrein-related peptidase (KLK) family in ovarian cancer progression and prognosis has been thoroughly investigated in various studies. Most of these peptidases are upregulated in ovarian cancer tissue compared to normal ovarian tissue and their expression is linked to overall and progression-free survival (OS/PFS). In this review, we address the clinical relevance of KLKs in ovarian cancer and their diagnostic potential. This review covers the expression and regulation of KLKs in ovarian cancer with focus on the prognostic and diagnostic potential, especially in liquid biopsies. In ovarian cancer, several kallikrein-related peptidases are markedly expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Tumor-derived protease secretion results in elevated levels in serum and ascites. KLKs may thus serve as potential biomarkers alone or in combination with other serum tumor markers, such as Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125), for early detection and assessment of the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients.
卵巢癌是全球女性中最致命的恶性肿瘤之一。由于大多数患者在首次诊断时已经处于晚期，缺乏早期诊断标志物导致预后不佳。在各种研究中，激肽释放酶相关肽酶（KLK）家族在卵巢癌的进展和预后中的作用已经得到了深入研究。与正常卵巢组织相比，这些肽酶中的大多数在卵巢癌组织中上调，并且它们的表达与总生存期和无进展生存期（OS/PFS）相关。在这篇综述中，我们探讨了 KLK 在卵巢癌中的临床相关性及其诊断潜力。这篇综述涵盖了 KLK 在卵巢癌中的表达和调节，重点介绍了其在预后和诊断方面的潜在作用，特别是在液体活检中的应用。在卵巢癌中，几种激肽释放酶相关肽酶以组织特异性的方式显著表达。肿瘤来源的蛋白酶分泌导致血清和腹水水平升高。因此，KLK 可以作为潜在的生物标志物，单独或与其他血清肿瘤标志物（如 CA125）联合使用，用于早期检测和评估卵巢癌患者的预后。
