Differential proteins among normal cervix cells and cervical cancer cells with HPV-16 infection, through mass spectrometry-based Proteomics (2D-DIGE) in women from Southern México.

BACKGROUND

Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide with an estimated 528,000 new cases in 2012. The same year México had an incidence of 13,960 and a mortality of 4769 cases. There are several diagnosis methods of CC; among the most frequents are the conventional Pap cytology (Pap), colposcopy, and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), histopathological examination, tests of imaging and detection of high-risk papilloma virus (HR-HPV) with molecular tests (PCR, hybridization, sequencing). Proteomics is a tool for the detection of new biomarkers that can be associated with clinical stage, histological type, prognosis, and/or response to treatment. In this study we performed a comparative analysis of CC cells with normal cervical cells. The proteomic analysis was carried out with the fluorescent two-dimensional electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) technique to subsequently identify differential protein profiles using Decyder Software, and the selected proteins were identified by Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF).

RESULTS

The proteins that showed an increased expression in cervical cancer in comparison with normal cervix cells were: Mimecan, Actin from aortic smooth muscle and Lumican. While Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 5, Peroxiredoxin-1 and 14-3-3 protein sigma showed a decrease in their protein expression level in cervical cancer in comparison with normal cervix cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus, this study was successful in identifying biomarker signatures for cervical cancer, and might provide new insights into the mechanism of CC progression.