CLIC1 a novel biomarker of intraperitoneal metastasis in serous epithelial ovarian cancer

Early diagnosis of intraperitoneal metastasis is a pivot for survival of patients with serous epithelial ovarian cancers (SEOC). However, to date, there is lack of efficient molecular biomarker for early metastasis of SEOC. Here, we found that the expression of chloride intracellular channel 1 (CLIC1) is highly correlative with intraperitoneal metastasis. There is very low expression of CLIC1 in normal ovaries (NO), benign ovarian tumor (BOT), and primary ovarian cancer without metastasis (POCNM); but its expression is remarkably high in primary ovarian cancer with metastasis (POCM) omentum and peritoneal metastasis. Furthermore, for clinic prediction of intraperitoneal metastasis of SEOC, the sensitivity and specificity of CLIC1 overexpression were 97.4 and 88.1 %, respectively. Collectively, CLIC1 may be a potential sensitive and specific molecular biomarker for early diagnose for SEOC metastasis.