Diagnostic value of serum human epididymis protein 4 and cancer antigen 125 in the patients with ovarian carcinoma: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Ovarian carcinoma (OC) is considered among the most prevalent triggers of cancer-related deaths in women. Many studies have demonstrated that human epididymis protein 4 (HE-4) as well as cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) are over-expressed in various malignant tumors, such as lung, liver, endometrial, gastric, breast, as well as ovarian cancers. Nonetheless, the overall diagnostic value of serum HE-4, in addition to CA-125 n patients experiencing OC, is still largely undetermined. Therefore, the current study intends to investigate the general diagnostic significance of HE-4 along with CA-125 in patients with OC. METHODS: We aim to systematically search retrospective or prospective study for potential eligible studies from electronic databases, such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, as well as Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. We will relevant articles evaluating the general diagnostic significance of HE-4 and CA-125 in patients with OC from these databases. We will define our search in English and Chinese. Likewise, we will use 2 independent authors to extract the required data, using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool to evaluate he procedural quality of all included literature. We will use the appropriate statistical method to complete data analyses. RESULTS: The present study aims to investigate the general diagnostic significance of HE-4 and CA-125 in patients suffering from OC. CONCLUSION: The present study will systematically summarise current evidence of HE-4 in combination with CA-125 in relation to diagnosing OC. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval will not be required. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/YQPC7 (https://osf.io/yqpc7/).