Objectives: High grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is the most common type of ovarian cancer and is responsible for about 90% of ovarian cancer deaths. The diagnostic tests currently used do not increase the detection rates for ovarian cancer. There is a great necessity to develop new and non-invasive diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer (OC). Cervico-vaginal fluid (CVF) seems to be a potential and valuable source of biomarkers for genital tract diseases including ovarian cancer. The aim of our pilot study was to undertake a preliminary proteomic analysis of CVF derived from ovarian cancer patients and to compare these with results from a control group.
Material and methods: We analysed and compared samples from a group of ovarian cancer patients and a control group of healthy patients. The study used MALDI-TOF coupled with nanoLC and ClinProTools software for MS, MS/MS spectra collection and proteomic analysis.
Results: We identified 404 different proteins in the OC group and 417 proteins in the control group. 239 of the proteins were found to be common to both study groups, 165 proteins were unique to the OC subjects, and 178 proteins were unique to the control subjects. We selected three proteins as the OC markers with the greatest potential: cysteine-rich secretory protein 3, fibronectin and Ly6/PLAUR domain-containing protein 3.
Conclusions: The proteins we selected seem to possess great potential as markers for the screening and early detection of OC, especially in non-invasive and low-cost diagnostic tests. However, our findings require more advanced and validated proteomic analysis to confirm the suitability of the selected proteins in everyday medical diagnoses.
Keywords: cervico-vaginal fluid; ovarian cancer; proteomic pattern; tumor markers.