Serum Protein Profiling of Cervical Cancer Patients Using Surface-Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) technology, serum protein profiling was screened for the discovery of differentially expressed proteins between cervical cancer patients and control samples. Proteins and peptides in serum were captured by a CM10 proteinchip, and then detected by a proteinchip reader. The resulting profiling of all collected samples was analyzed with proteinchip software. Seven protein peaks were significantly regulated between the cancer group and the control group (p < 0.05). Fifty-three peaks in the m/z range from 2 kDa to 20 kDa were selected for partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The diagnostic model can distinguish cervical cancer in the blind test set from health controls with an accuracy of 90%. The combination of SELDI-TOF-MS and PLS-DA model can be used to screen significant proteins of differential expression in the serum of cervical cancer and may play a potential role in the diagnostics of cervical cancer.