Evaluation of LDH, AFP, b-hCG and tumour markers CEA and CA-125 in sera of Iraqi patients with ovarian cancer

Background/Aim: Ovarian cancer is still a big health concern, with few early detection options. The present research aimed to explore the test's usefulness of blood levels of cancer antigen 125 (CA-125), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (b-hCG) in detecting and managing ovarian cancer. Methods: Samples were collected from 30 ovarian cancer patients and 30 healthy controls. The levels of CA-125, CEA, AFP; LDH and b-hCG were evaluated by ELISA. Results: Results indicated that ovarian cancer patients had considerably greater concentrations of CA-125, AFP, CEA and b-hCG than controls. LDH levels were not substantially different between the two groups. The ROC curve study indicated outstanding diagnostic performance for CA-125, AFP, CEA and b-hCG, with AUC values of 1.000. LDH had reasonable clinical precision, with an AUC of 0.721. Conclusion: The correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between all biomarkers in the patient group. These data imply that CA-125, AFP, CEA and b-hCG may be useful biomarkers for diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer in Iraqi women. Additional studies with bigger sample numbers are needed to corroborate these findings.