Blood test accurately detects early ovarian cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - US researchers may have come up with a test that reliably detects ovarian cancer in its early stages, when it is more easily curable.

Ovarian cancer is a 'silent' disease early on, and is often not diagnosed until it is advanced and difficult to remedy.

The newly reported test measures levels of four protein markers in blood -- leptin, prolactin, osteopontin, and insulin-like growth factor-II -- according to a report in the Early Edition of the research journal Proceedings of the  .

...These four proteins were able, when used together, to completely discriminate between the women with cancer and those without, the report indicates.

"The extent to which leptin, osteopontin, prolactin, and insulin-like growth factor-II can serve as potential biomarkers of cancers other than early ovarian cancer must be investigated rigorously," the researchers point out.