Different assays are used for screening and diagnosis of carcinoma worldwide. Here in Pakistan too, various techniques are used to screen cancers of different organs. Earlier the trend was to use ELISA assay for screening of ovarian cancer but nowadays special CHEMOLUMINESCENT assays are used to screen ovarian cancer. The objective of the study was to examine and compare the results of tumor marker CA-125, evaluated by CHEMOLUMINESCENT assays based (IMMULITE) and ELISA technique. Total of 80 patients having ovarian carcinoma and six healthy persons as control were included in this study. The study population included benign as well as malignant cases of ovarian carcinoma. The level of CA-125 was determined by ELISA and IMMULITE. Analysis of IMMULITE OM.MA assay showed 64 patients (80%) positive for cancer and in 16 patients (20%), the cancer marker was not detected. Analysis of the ELISA results showed 57 patients (72%) positive for cancer and in 23 patients (28%), the cancer antigen was not detected. Six healthy females as control group, showed very low concentration of CA-125. Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) is 0.358, indicating a direct relation between the two assays values. Paired t-test data of 0.46 gave us an insignificant difference value between both assays. Although there is very small variation in sensitivity and specificity of both the assays but there is significant correlation between ELISA and IMMULITE assays. Hence ELISA can be used to determine CA-125 level in ovarian cancer patients where the IMMULITE assay is not available or is not affordable.












