MCM10: A potential biomarker for cervical cancer and precancerous lesions

Abstract

Cervical cancer remains a significant health burden worldwide, emphasizing the need for early detection and intervention. DNA replication is perturbed in cancer cells, and the minichromosome maintenance protein 10 plays an important role in origin firing. By analyzing the MCM10 mRNA expression in healthy controls, precancerous lesions, and cervical cancer using qRT-PCR, we can infer if it can be considered a biomarker. We collected cervical smear samples from patients and performed MCM10 expression analysis to set up thresholds for risk stratification. We also investigated the HPV status among the patient samples with precancerous lesions and cervical cancer and found 70 % of them to be positive. Our results demonstrated a significant upregulation of MCM10 mRNA expression in tumor samples (n = 40, 7.83 ± 1.2) and precancerous lesions (n = 54, 5.69 ± 1.4) compared to normal (n = 50, 4.27 ± 0.80) with a R² value of 0.59, confirming its role in the progression and development of cervical cancer. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the potential role of MCM10 as a biomarker. Our study would improve early detection rates, and we propose MCM10-based community screening for risk stratification, prevention, and prognosis.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; DNA replication; HPV detection; MCM10; qRT-PCR.