Abstract

DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC PERFORMANCE OF HUMAN EPIDIDYMIS SECRETORY PROTEIN- 4 (HE4) IN CANCER TREATMENT: A REVIEW

Mangala Sirsikar, *Venkata Bharat Kumar Pinnelli, Raghavendra DS

Abstract

HE4 is one of several WAP proteins that are localized on human chromosome. HE4 is expressed in a number of tissues like glandular epithelium of the breast, female genital tract, epididymis, vas deferens, distal renal tubules, respiratory epithelium, colonic mucosa and salivary glands less often in gastric tissue and pancreas. HE4 has emerged as a valuable biomarker for distinguishing malignant from benign masses, prognostication, monitoring and screening of various cancers. It serves as a useful prognostic biomarker for ovarian and endometrial cancer. HE4 demonstrated comparable diagnostic performances to CA125 as a tumor marker for detecting ovarian cancer and proved as more sensitive and specific in detecting early stages of ovarian cancer. HE4 improves the utility of CA125 as a tumor marker in ovarian cancer, and using both markers simultaneously increases the tumor marker sensitivity. The use of this combination has enabled the detection of ovarian cancer as compared with use of either marker alone for the discrimination of benign from malignant ovarian lesions. HE4 has also emerged as a serum biomarker for lung cancer, pulmonary adenocarcinoma, chronic kidney disease, renal failure, and kidney fibrosis.

Keywords: Human Epididymis- 4 protein, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, CA-125, ROMA.