Cervical cancer (CC) remains a major diagnostic problem. The introduction of
human papillomavirus vaccination significantly reduced the number of new cases;
however, the search for new methods that would earlier indicate the development
of cancerous changes is vital. The aim of this study was to investigate the
diagnostic power of those parameters in comparison to Cancer Antigen 125 (CA
125) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen (SCC-Ag) in patients with CC and in
relation to the control group. The study included 100 patients with CC and 50
healthy women. Plasma levels of tested parameters were determined by
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, CA 125, and SCC-Ag by chemiluminescent
microparticle immunoassay. Plasma levels of all parameters in the total cancer
group showed statistical significance (in all cases P <
.05). In stage I cancer, only vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and
tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 1; in stage II, all the tested parameters
and CA 125; and in stage III + IV, VEGF, matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), and
CA 125 showed statistical significance when compared to the healthy volunteers
group. Vascular endothelial growth factor showed the highest value of
sensitivity from all tested parameters (I: 75%, II: 76%, III + IV: 94%, and 82%
in total CC group). The highest specificity was obtained by MMP-9 (94%). In the
total CC, stage I, and stage II groups, all tested parameters showed
statistically significant area under the receiver operating characteristics
curve (AUC), but maximum range was obtained for the combination VEGF + SCC-Ag
(I: 0.9146, II: 0.8941, III + IV: 0.9139, total CC group: 0.9347). The combined
analysis of tested parameters and tumor markers resulted in an increase in
sensitivity and AUC values, which provides hope for developing new panel of
biomarkers that may be used in the diagnosis of CC in the future.