Objective  To investigate the relationships between serum human kallikrein 10 (HK10) level and clinicopathological characteristics, the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with ovarian cancer.

  Methods  The clinical data of 86 patients with ovarian tumor and 32 healthy women (healthy physical examination group) were analyzed. A total of 86 patients with ovarian tumor were divided into ovarian cancer group (n=35) and benign ovarian tumor group (n=51) according to the nature of tumor. HK10 levels of the three groups were compared; the HK10 levels of ovarian cancer patients with different pathological features were observed; the influence of clinicopathological features (degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis, degree of muscular invasion and clinical stage) on HK10 level were analyzed. The total effective rate of ovarian cancer after chemotherapy was observed; the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity of HK10 for predicting chemotherapy efficacy were evaluated.

  Results  The HK10 content in ovarian cancer group was significantly higher than that in benign ovarian tumor group and healthy physical examination group(P < 0.05). The HK10 level in ovarian cancer group was correlated with differentiation degree, lymph node metastasis, muscularity invasion degree and clinical stage (P < 0.05). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the degree of differentiation and lymph node metastasis had a negative effect on HK10 (P < 0.05); the degree of muscle layer infiltration had a significant positive effect on HK10 (P < 0.05). After 6 cycles of chemotherapy, the total effective rate of ovarian cancer patients was 77.15%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the AUC value of HK10 for predicting chemotherapy efficacy was 0.701 (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  The serum HK10 of patients with ovarian cancer has a negative influence on the degree of differentiation and lymph node metastasis, and has a positive influence on the degree of myometrial invasion. The efficacy of chemotherapy can be evaluated by measuring serum HK10 level.