Abstract: It is very important to improve the early diagnosis rate of ovarian cancer due to its high mortality rate and difficult to diagnose early. Mesothelin (MSLN) plays an important role in the occurrence and development of ovarian cancer and in the microenvironment of ovarian cancer. MSLN is a glycoprotein with overexpression in many cancers, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, it is closely related to cell survival, proliferation, tumor progression and adhesion. CA125 is a ligand of MSLN which binds to CA125 to form a complex of MSLN: CA125, the later mediates peritoneal implantation of ovarian cancer cells. The specific expression of MSLN can be used for early diagnosis, evaluation of the therapeutic effect of ovarian cancer, detection of the distribution of primary tumors and metastatic lesions, and as a new therapeutic target and tumor immunotargeting therapy. Although the studies of MSLN targeting immunotoxins, anti-MSLN chimeric antibodies and clinical cancer vaccines suggest that MSLN can be used as a potential target for cancer treatment to improve the clinical efficacy, more studies are needed to confirm the role of MSLN in cancer metastasis and its treatment options.

Key words: Ovarian neoplasms, CA-125 antigen, Mesothelin, Tumor microenvironment