Current and Emerging Methods for Ovarian Cancer Screening and Diagnostics: A Comprehensive Review

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) has a 5-year survival rate of less than 50%, making it one of the most lethal gynecological cancers for women in the developed world today. Delayed presentation of clinical symptoms and late-stage diagnosis drive the high mortality rate of this disease. Early detection is associated with significant improvements in survival, however, screening in the general population is currently not recommended at this time due to a notable lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers for early-stage disease. In this review, we provide an overview of the current landscape of ovarian cancer diagnostics, emphasizing emerging methodologies for the non-invasive detection of HGSC. ABSTRACT: With a 5-year survival rate of less than 50%, ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is one of the most highly aggressive gynecological malignancies affecting women today. The high mortality rate of HGSC is largely attributable to delays in diagnosis, as most patients remain undiagnosed until the late stages of -disease. There are currently no recommended screening tests for ovarian cancer and there thus remains an urgent need for new diagnostic methods, particularly those that can detect the disease at early stages when clinical intervention remains effective. While diagnostics for ovarian cancer share many of the same technical hurdles as for other cancer types, the low prevalence of the disease in the general population, coupled with a notable lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers, have made the development of a clinically useful screening strategy particularly challenging. Here, we present a detailed review of the overall landscape of ovarian cancer diagnostics, with emphasis on emerging methods that employ novel protein, genetic, epigenetic and imaging-based biomarkers and/or advanced diagnostic technologies for the noninvasive detection of HGSC, particularly in women at high risk due to germline mutations such as BRCA1/2. Lastly, we discuss the translational potential of these approaches for achieving a clinically implementable solution for screening and diagnostics of early-stage ovarian cancer as a means of ultimately improving patient outcomes in both the general and high-risk populations.