A study of serum biomarkers associated with relapse of cervical cancer.

Background/aim: To discover candidate protein biomarkers in the serum of patients with cervical cancer that differentiate between patients with relapse from those who are tumor-free after primary treatment with (platinum-based chemo-) radiation.

Patients And Methods: Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) with cation exchange (CM10) and hydrophobic/reverse-phase (H50) was used to examine 44 serum samples from patients with advanced cervical cancer, primarily treated with (platinum-based chemo-) radiation.

Results: Ten candidate biomarkers were identified in the serum of 34 patients. Six candidate markers were elevated in patients with no relapse and four were elevated in patients with relapse [p=0.007-0.11; area under the curve (AUC)=0.70-0.75]. Masses of candidate biomarkers ranged from 2,022 to 116,165 Da.

Conclusion: Patients with relapse from primary advanced cervical cancer exhibit different serum protein expression profiles from those with no relapse.