What is CA125?

CA125 is a glycoprotein, which mainly exists in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues and serum of ovarian cancer patients. CA125 has certain suggestive significance for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. In ovarian cancer patients, serum CA125 levels are often significantly increased, which can be used as one of the indicators of auxiliary diagnosis. However, CA125 elevation is not only found in ovarian cancer, other conditions such as endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, benign ovarian tumor and so on may also lead to mild elevation, so CA125 can not be relied solely to diagnose ovarian cancer, need to combine clinical symptoms, imaging examination and other comprehensive judgment. For ovarian cancer patients, CA125 can be used to monitor disease progression and treatment effect. A decrease in CA125 levels after treatment usually indicates that treatment is effective; if CA125 continues to rise or rises again, it may indicate tumor recurrence or progression, which may help adjust treatment regimen in time. In addition to ovarian cancer, CA 125 may also be abnormal in other malignant tumors, such as breast cancer and pancreatic cancer, although its specificity is not high, but it can be used as part of comprehensive evaluation in some cases. In addition, CA 125 may also fluctuate to some extent in some non-malignant diseases.