Detection of Protein Markers From Blood Samples of Cervical Cancer Patients

Objective Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the prevalent cause of cervical cancer in females worldwide, necessitating the development of fast and reliable diagnostic methods for early detection of HPV. The study aims to detect serum proteins like squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA/SerpinB3), cytokeratin fragment antigen 21-1 (CYFRA 21-1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and high mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) as biomarkers and their combination concerning the type of HPV. Methods Serum samples from a total of 36 cervical cancer patients were initially subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), followed by western blotting with anti-Serpin B3/SCCA, anti-CEA, anti-HMGB, and anti-CYFRA 21-1. The frequency of samples for each protein was obtained. In the Chi-square test, correlations with p-values less than 0.05 were deemed statistically significant. Results Irrespective of HPV type, the CEA had the highest percentage of definite responses (58.33%). Subsequently, SCCA, HMGB1, and Cytokeratin-19 protein presented 47.22%, 27.78%, and 25% responses, respectively. HPV types influenced the difference in protein combinations, with HPV-16 presenting the most positive responses followed by HPV-(16+18). HPV-18 presented the least number of affirmative responses. Conclusion Our study presents the CEA protein as a possible biomarker and HPV-16 as the most prominent HPV type to different parallel combinations of serum proteins. The protein combinations can be applied to future cancer detection and therapy.