A study of ovarian cancer biomarker amplification using ultrasound for early stage detection

The application of serum biomarker to ovarian tumors for early stage detection and clinical diagnosis is a rapidly expanding research area. The problem with conventional markers is that they are often released too late or at too low a level to be detected in time to trigger effective treatment. Ultrasound has been used to influence bio-effects in living cells, but there is only one reported case of the use of ultrasound to enhance the release of a biomarker (Carcinoembryonic antigen CEA). In this study we report the use of ultrasound to enhance the release of a combination of ovarian cancer biomarkers (CA125 and CA19-9) to help in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer at an early stage. The results indicated that after 5 min sonication at a frequency of 1 MHz and intensity of 0.3 W cm−2, the CA125 and CA19-9 levels were increased by 2.02 and 4.21-fold respectively. These findings suggest that ultrasonic treatment can be used to enhance the release of serum biomarkers from ovarian tumors.