Objective To investigate the expression of microRNA 21（miR-21）and microRNA203（miR-203）in epithelial ovarian cancer（EOC）， and the diagnostic value of them in combination with serum carbohydrate antigen 125（CA125）in EOC. Methods Serum miR-21 and miR-203 expression in 40 cases of patients with EOC（EOC group），40 cases of epithelial ovarian benign tumor patients（benign group）and 42 healthy women（control group）were detected by QPCR； Serum CA125 concentration was tested by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay；The correlation between miR-21, miR-203 and the clinicopathological features in EOC patients was analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic curve（ROC）was used to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of miR-21, miR-203 and CA125 alone or in combination. Results The expressions of serum miR-21 and miR-203 in EOC group were 2.27±0.48 and 3.61±0.71，higher than 1.20±0.22 and 1.47±0.38 in benign group，as well as 1.00±0.33 and 1.00±0.28 in control group with significant difference（P＜0.05）. There was no significant difference between benign group and control group（P＞0.05）. miR-21 and miR203 expression were correlated with clinical stages and lymph node metastasis（P＜0.05），but not with age，menopause status，pathological types and CA125 levels（P＞0.05）. The diagnostic specificity of CA125 alone was 82.50％，and diagnostic sensitivity of CA125，miR-21 and miR-203 combined detection was 95.00％. They were the highest among those of single or combined detection.
Conclusion miR-21 and miR-203 may play an oncogene role in the development of EOC. The combined detection of serum CA125，miR-21 and miR203 are expected to be used in screening for EOC due to improving the diagnostic sensitivity.