Defining precisely the normal range of HE4 protein is crucial for the proper interpretation of tumor marker results and for a more efficient diagnosis of ovarian malignancy.
The present study indicates that the HE4 protein plays a promotive role in the proliferation and resistance to carboplatin in ovarian cancer cells, implicating the value of HE4 to predict tumor growth potential and resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).
One of these proteins, which contains two WAP domains, is HE4 (also known as WFDC2), originally described as an epididymis specific protein but more recently suggested to be a putative serum tumour marker for ovarian cancer.