Use of Noninvasive Blood Thermograms to Diagnose Cervical Cancer

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a noninvasive analytical tool, has been adapted to analyze blood samples and produce plasma thermograms that are diagnostic for cervical cancer.

DSC technology has recently been shown to detect specific changes in the thermal behavior of blood plasma proteins in several diseases. The present study, carried out by cervical cancer investigators at the University of Louisville (KY, USA), evaluated the utility of employing DSC to differentiate among healthy controls, increasing severity of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and early and advanced invasive carcinomas of the cervix (IC).


The noninvasive DSC procedure generates a plasma thermogram from a blood plasma sample that has been “melted” to produce a unique signature indicating an individual’s health status.

Results revealed that significant discrimination was apparent relative to the extent of disease with no clear effect of demographic factors such as age, ethnicity, smoking status, and parity. Of most clinical relevance, there was strong differentiation of CIN from healthy controls and IC, and among patients with IC between Stage I and advanced cancer.

The investigators speculated that the observed disease-specific changes in a patient's thermogram reflected differential expression of disease biomarkers that subsequently bound to and affected the thermal behavior of the most abundant plasma proteins. The effect of interacting biomarkers could be inferred from the modulation of thermograms but could not be directly identified by DSC. To investigate the nature of the proposed interactions, mass spectrometry (MS) analyses were employed. Quantitative assessment of the low molecular weight protein fragments of plasma and urine samples revealed a small list of peptides whose abundance was correlated with the extent of cervical disease.

“We have been able to demonstrate a more convenient, less intrusive test for detecting and staging cervical cancer,” said first author Dr. Nichola Garbett, instructor of medicine at the University of Louisville. “The key is not the actual melting temperature of the thermogram, but the shape of the heat profile. We have been able to establish thermograms for a number of diseases. Comparing blood samples of patients who are being screened or treated against those thermograms should enable us to better monitor patients as they are undergoing treatment and follow-up. This will be a chance for us to adjust treatments so they are more effective. Additionally, other research has shown that we are able to demonstrate if the current treatment is effective so that clinicians will be able to better tailor care for each patient.”

In order to commercialize DSC technology the University of Louisville investigators have founded a start-up company, Louisville Bioscience, Inc. (KY, USA), which holds an exclusive license for the Plasma Thermogram (pT) technology.

The study describing use of DSC to diagnose cervical cancer was published in the January 8, 2014, online edition of the journal PLOS ONE.

Related Links:
University of Louisville
Louisville Bioscience, Inc.