Label-Free Quantitative Comparison of Cervical Mucus Peptides in Subjects With Endocervical Adenocarcinoma and Adenocarcinoma in Situ.

PURPOSE: To uncover potential diagnostic biomarkers for endocervical adenocarcinoma (EAC) and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS).

EXPERIMENTAL

DESIGN

Quantitative label-free liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) peptidomics strategies were employed to profile 8 cervical mucus (CM) samples, including 3 EAC cases, 2 AIS cases and 3 normal controls (Ctrl).

RESULTS

Among the 3721 exclusive peptides identified, 12 (5 up-regulated and 7 down-regulated) endogenous peptides were significantly expressed in EAC compared to healthy controls (EAC/Ctrl); 10 (7 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated) endogenous peptides were significantly expressed in AIS compared to healthy controls (AIS/Ctrl); 11 (6 up-regulated and 5 down-regulated) endogenous peptides were significantly expressed in EAC compared to AIS (EAC/AIS) (absolute fold change ≥1.5, Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-value ≤0.05). Among these identifications, annexin A1 (ANXA1) was found to be down-regulated both in EAC and AIS, and its unique peptide (FIENEEQEYVQTVK) may be promising indicators for cervical glandular epithelial lesions.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study to utilize CM peptidomics in cervical glandular malignancies, which may reveal the novel noninvasive biomarkers for EAC and AIS.