Value of serum human epididymis secretory protein 4 as a marker for differential diagnosis of malignant and benign gynecological diseases of patients in southern China

Background: This study investigated the clinical value of HE4 in distinguishing malignant and benign gynecological diseases of patients in southern China.

Methods: Preoperative serum CA125 and HE4 concentrations were tested in samples of women with malignant or benign gynecological diseases using fully automated methods (Abbott ARCHITECT) and validated cutoff values.

Results: For the discrimination of ovarian cancer from benign gynecological diseases, in premenopausal women, the sensitivity and specificity were 89.8% and 67.5% for CA125, 68.5% and 97.8% for HE4, and 88.9% and 78.6% for ROMA, whereas in postmenopausal women, the sensitivity and specificity were 86.6% and 88.9% for CA125, 57.3% and 100% for HE4, and 85.4% and 94.4% for ROMA. For the discrimination of endometrial cancer from benign gynecological diseases, in premenopausal women, the sensitivity and specificity were 20.3% and 67.5% for CA125, 56.8% and 97.8% for HE4, and 74.3% and 78.6% for ROMA, whereas in postmenopausal women, the sensitivity and specificity were 17.8% and 88.9% for CA125, 31.5% and 100% for HE4, and 32.9% and 94.4% for ROMA.

Conclusions: We showed that HE4 had better specificity than CA125 in discriminating ovarian cancer, and endometrial cancer from benign gynecological diseases in southern China population.