Pilot study of plasma creatine riboside as a potential biomarker for cervical cancer

Heliyon. 2023 May 25;9(6):e16684. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16684. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Abstract

This pilot study aimed primarily to evaluate plasma levels of a novel metabolite, creatine riboside, in patients with cervical cancer (discovery and validation cohorts, n = 11 for each) compared with non-cancer subjects (controls, n = 30). We found that the pre-treatment plasma creatine riboside level was significantly higher in the discovery cohort than in controls. The cut-off value determined from the discovery cohort distinguished 90.9% of the patients in the validation cohort from controls. Unbiased principal component analysis of plasma metabolites in high-creatine riboside samples demonstrated enrichment of pathways involved in arginine and creatine metabolism. These data indicate the potential utility of plasma creatine riboside as a biomarker of cervical cancer.

Keywords: Biomarker; Cervical cancer; Creatine riboside; Oncometabolite; Plasma.