游离circCUX1在卵巢癌患者血清中的表达及诊断价值研究OA

Objective:To explore the expression levels of serum-free circCUX1 in ovarian cancer patients and to evaluate its clinical diagnostic value.Methods:The molecular characteris-tics of circCUX1 were analyzed using DNA agarose gel electrophoresis,Sanger sequencing,actino-mycin D treatment,and RNase R digestion assays.A total of 30 patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer between December 2024 and October 2025 at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University were enrolled as the ovarian cancer group,along with 30 healthy volunteers as the control group.Serum levels of circCUX1 were quantified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reac-tion(RT-qPCR).Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis was performed to eval-uate the diagnostic efficacy of serum circCUX1 for ovarian cancer.Results:CircCUX1 was genera-ted from the CUX1 gene through back-splicing of exons.Compared with linear CUX1 mRNA,circ-CUX1 exhibited greater stability in ovarian cancer cells.Serum-free circCUX1 levels were signifi-cantly elevated in ovarian cancer patients compared with healthy controls(P<0.05).Moreover,serum cell-free circCUX1 levels were higher in patients with advanced-stage disease(FIGO sta-gesⅢ/Ⅳ)than in those with early-stage disease(FIGO stagesⅠ/Ⅱ)(P<0.05),and were also increased in patients with distant metastasis compared with those without distant metastasis(P<0.05).Serum-free circCUX1 levels were significantly associated with FIGO stage,lymph node metastasis,and distant metastasis(all P<0.05).Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis demonstrated that the areas under the curve(AUC)for serum CA125,circCUX1,and their combination in diagnosing ovarian cancer were 0.786,0.867,and 0.928,respectively.The combined diagnostic model showed a statistically significant improvement compared with CA125 alone(Z=2.13,P<0.05).Conclusion:circCUX1 is highly expressed in the serum of ovarian cancer patients,and its level increases with disease progression,indicating that circCUX1 may have potential clinical value as an auxiliary diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer.