Proteomic Analysis of Pelvic Autonomic Nerve in Nerve-sparing Radical Hysterectomy for Cervical Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIM: This study was designed to identify candidate proteins which can be used for visualization of pelvic autonomic nerve during nerve-sparing surgery.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Both soft tissue and vesical branch of the inferior hypogastric nerve from five women were collected during surgery. These 10 tissue specimens were analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) for protein expression. The existence of nerve fibres was confirmed using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and anti-S-100 staining.

RESULTS

A total of 413 proteins were detected. There were three proteins (isoform 1 of fibronectin, protein S100-A8 and A9) which implied a relation with pelvic autonomic nerve. In nerve tissue from one case, the existence of nerve fibre was not confirmed.

CONCLUSION

Further large studies are expected to present more nerve-specific candidate proteins which can be used for the easy and safe identification of autonomic nerves.