Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of reproductive cancer, and has the highest mortality rate amongst gynecological cancer subtypes. The majority of ovarian cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage, resulting in a five‑year survival rate of ~30%. Early diagnosis of ovarian cancer has improved the five‑year survival rate to ≥90%, thus the current imperative requirement is to identify biomarkers that would allow the early detection, diagnosis and monitoring of the progression of the disease, or of novel targets for therapy. In the present study, secreted proteins from purified ovarian control, benign and cancer cells were investigated by mass spectrometry, in order to identify novel specific markers that are easy to quantify in patients sera. A total of nine proteins revealed significant differential secretion from control and benign cells, in comparison with ovarian cancer cells. The mRNA expression levels of three of these proteins (Dickkopf protein 3, heat shock protein 10 kDa and gelsolin) were subsequently evaluated by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Combined with the protein level in serum, the present study identified that gelsolin may be a useful marker of ovarian cancer.