The discovery of biomarkers for endometrial cancer: update over the last years.

INTRODUCTION

Early diagnosis is essential for a good prognosis of patients with endometrial cancer; however, there are currently no noninvasive tests available. Despite the good prognosis with early diagnosis, a significant minority of women will recur, and biomarkers are needed to stratify patients according to their risk of recurrence.

CONTEXT

In recent decades, the discovery of blood biomarkers to facilitate diagnosis and improve risk stratification of EC patients has been actively pursued.

AREAS COVERED

The present review is an update of candidate blood biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of endometrial cancer reported in the past eight years, following an earlier review. The literature search was conducted in the PubMed database for the period between July 2016 and September 2024. This review describes studies investigating tumor markers, proteins, metabolites and miRNAs and their diagnostic and prognostic properties. The quality of the included studies is assessed and the limitations and potential for translation into clinical application are discussed.

EXPERT OPINION/COMMENTARY: Individual biomarker candidates do not offer optimal diagnostic and prognostic characteristics. The use of omics for biomarker discovery is promising, but development in this area is lagging behind due to methodological issues and a lack of external validation.