Changes in the Protein Profile of Cervical Cancer Mice Xenograft Model in Response to Streblus asper Treatment

Cervical cancer is the third most prevalent cancer in females (2018) with an estimation of 569,847 incidences and 311,365 deaths worldwide despite the rapid advancement of current technology in treating cervical cancer. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy pose side effects and subsequently hinder treatment efficacy. Therefore, taken together with the previous reports of the plants’ ability in treating cancers, Streblus asper is suggested to be a potential candidate for cervical cancer. This study was conducted to investigate the anti-cervical cancer potential of Streblus asper through the identification of key proteins and their expression that are regulated in the treatment using mice xenograft model. By employing the use of Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LCMS), several proteins associated with cancer growth mechanisms were successfully identified. Four-hundred and fifty-two proteins common to both groups were identified, and 122 proteins were found able to be quantified. Among those proteins, 52 proteins were expressed more than 2-fold changes and 12 proteins were selected based on its established relationship with cancers, including annexin A2, 14-3-3 protein, transgelin-2, galectin-1, keratin, heat shock protein 10 and 70, glucose regulated protein (78kDa), gelsolin, alpha enolase, cofilin-1, vimentin, and calreticulin. All these proteins were downregulated upon treatment of cervical cancer tumour by Streblus asper. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed 40 related pathways which include among others, metabolism of protein, post-translational protein modification, cellular responses to external stimuli and stress, cell cycle, and apoptosis. These analyses may improve our molecular insight of the mechanisms involved in the treatment of cervical cancer tumour by Streblus asper extract.