Background: Urine samples offer certain advantages for clinical proteomic analysis, including their ease of collection using
non-invasive procedures. Currently, there are several screening tests for cervical cancer, including conventional Pap smear and liquid-based cytology. Unfortunately, these techniques require cervical swabs to be performed that are more invasive and complex than urine collection.

Objective: The present exploratory study aimed to identify candidate urinary protein profiles that may be used as biomarkers to distinguish cervical cancer from human papillomavirus [HPV]-negative non-cervical cancer cases, using surface-enhanced laser absorption/ionization [SELDT] time-of-flight mass spectrometry [TOF MS].

Materials and Methods: Sixty urine samples from cervical cancer patients and HPV-negative women were subjected to analysis using SELDT-TOF MS and its associated software.

Results: The spectra of protein profiles used for analysis included mass-to-charge (m/z) values of l5,859, 33,385, and 66,730 Da. The peak at m/z 33,385 Da could distinguish between cervical cancer
and HPV-negative non-cervical cancer cases with a sensitivity and specificity of 86.67% and 73.33%, respectively.

Conclusion: These results suggest that analysis of urine protein profiles by SELDT-TOF MS could potentially discriminate between cervical cancer and non-cervical cancer cases, and may thus be
useful for developing novel screening tests for the detection of cervical cancer.

Keywords: Protein profiles, Cervical cancer, Urine proteomics, SELDT-TOF, HPV