ASCO 2025: A Noninvasive Diagnostic Tool for Ovarian Cancer

By: JNCCN 360 Staff
Posted: Thursday, June 19, 2025

According to findings presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, a new serum-based ovarian cancer score has shown promise in detecting early-stage ovarian cancer in patients. Haixia Wang, MD, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, China, and colleagues examined the Ovarian Cancer Score (OCS) and its performance in detecting ovarian cancer noninvasively. 

The multicenter study consisted of 1,024 samples from 1,183 adult female patients with adnexal masses, collected between October 2019 and April 2023 from four hospitals in China. All samples were collected before surgery. The OCS was calculated using the concentrations of sEV carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), and complement component 5a protein (C5a), and was quantified through chemiluminescence immunoassay. The score was then used to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and both positive and negative predictive value. 

The OCS achieved both a high sensitivity (95.5%) and specificity (90.2%), making it superior to CA125 and ROMA in both, and superior to HE4 in sensitivity alone. For early-stage ovarian cancer, the OCS achieved higher sensitivity than all three (91.4%), particularly in patients with FIGO stage I disease, and a higher specificity than CA125 and ROMA. Subgroup analysis also showed that the OCS had higher sensitivity than CA125 and HE4 in both pre- and postmenopausal women. Meanwhile, in premenopausal women, the specificity was higher than CA125 and ROMA and lower than HE4, though there was no significant difference in sensitivity for postmenopausal women.  

With these results, the study authors concluded that OCS had potential as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for detecting ovarian cancer, particularly in early stages.

ASCO 2025 Annual Meeting

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