Monitoring physical and psychosocial symptom trajectories in ovarian cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Background: Diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer (OC) entail severe symptom burden and a significant loss of quality of life (QOL). Somatic and psychological impairments may persist well beyond active therapy. Although essential for optimal symptom management as well as for the interpretation of treatment outcomes, knowledge on the course of QOL-related issues is scarce.

Serum phenylalanine concentrations in patients with ovarian carcinoma correlate with concentrations of immune activation markers and of isoprostane-8.

Increased blood concentrations of essential amino acid phenylalanine are common in patients with HIV infection, in trauma and sepsis and in patients with cancer. The reason for this phenomenon is still unclear. However, all these clinical conditions are known to be linked with inflammation and immune activation.