Prospective evaluation of 92 protein biomarkers for early detection of endometrial cancer
The human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) remains the best available endometrial cancer (EC) biomarker; however, its discrimination between cases and cancer-free individuals is limited and might be improved when combined with other protein markers. We evaluated the discrimination capacity of 92 proteins as potential early detection biomarkers for EC in nested case-control studies in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) (63 cases, 123 controls) and Janus (75 cases, 146 controls) cohorts, evaluating blood samples taken ≤2 years prior to diagnosis. Proteins were measured with the Olink Target 96 Oncology II panel assays. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were calculated using logistic regression. The discrimination between cases and controls of top-performing proteins was modest (EPIC: HE4, CA125, CAIX, and S100A4; Janus: HE4, CA125, FURIN, CXCL13, and IL6; AUC range: 0.65 [S100A4], 0.76 [HE4, EPIC] within 0 to <12 months of blood collection) and decreased as the time between blood draw and cancer diagnosis increased (12-24 months AUC range: 0.49 [S100A4], 0.69 [CA125, Janus]). The combination of these other markers with HE4 did not improve discrimination. HE4 and other candidate proteins had limited discrimination between EC cases and controls and hence do not appear to be useful for early detection of this disease in women at average population risk.
Authors
- Valeria Pala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5438-970X)
- Rudolf Kaaks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3751-3929)
- Trasias Mukama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6520-5272)
- Inger Torhild Gram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0031-4152)
- Renée T. Fortner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1426-8505)
- Sabine Naudin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1049-6225)
- Laure Dossus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2716-5748)
- Naomi E. Allen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1938-5038)
- Hilde Langseth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9446-4855)
- Pernilla Israelsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8605-8122)
- Victoria Cooley
- María‐José Sánchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4817-0757)
- Karina Standahl Olsen
Institutions
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- Inserm (FR)
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Centre de recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations (FR)
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ES)
- Cancer Registry of Norway (NO)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (ES)
- Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (IT)
- Centre international de recherche sur le cancer (FR)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Andalusian School of Public Health (ES)
- Makerere University (UG)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- Umeå University (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Cancer
- Published
- 2025-04-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.35428
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.70
Funders
- World Health Organization
- Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
- Universiteit Utrecht
- Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu