Usefulness of Serum HE4 in Monitoring Chemotherapy Response During Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer, being the eighth leading cause of cancer death in women. Fifty to seventy percent of treated patients will experience a relapse associated with chemoresistance. This is one of the major challenges to deal with in ovarian cancer management.

Objectives: This survey was driven to evaluate the effectiveness of serum HE4 in monitoring the response of chemother- apy in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer who are selected for Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NACT).

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2022 to December 2022 at the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital to find out the association of serum levels of HE4 with the clinical and tomographic response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced ovarian carcinoma.

Results: Mean age of the respondents was 52.27 (SD: ±10.55) years. Leading number of patients were from the 41-50 years age group. Association between response category and HE4 level after NACT is examined in the current study. The mean value of HE4 after NACT in no-response group was 539.03 whereas in response group this value decreased to

140.58. On independent t-test this difference was statistically significant (p=0.027).

Conclusion: HE4 biomarker can be effectively used to monitor the response of chemotherapy in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, Further study is needed to understand the impact of the biomarkers in terms of successful cytoreduction, in predicting platinum sensitivity, disease-free survival, risk to progress and overall survival.

CME J 2025; 4(1); 41-49