non-invasive biomarker discovery for pre-cervical or/and cervical cancer--actn4 and other biomarkers in menstrual blood

Conditions: Cervical Cancer; CIN

Summary: the goal of this clinical trial is 1. to test the sensitivity and specificity of using actn4 from menstrual blood for the detection of pre-cervical or/and cervical cancer. 2. if actn4 is not a promising biomarker, other biomarkers will be explored. 3. to develop an effective and non-invasive detection method for pre-cervical or/and cervical cancer. in women with menstruation. the main question it aims to answer is: to validate whether menstrual blood could be used as a non-invasive means for the detection of pre-cervical or cervical cancer participants will 1. join the briefing session of the study 2. sign the consent form and health questionnaire 3. submit the cervical medical report(s) within 3 months or perform sponsored pap smear test 4. collect the menstrual blood sample if there is a comparison group: researchers will compare the diseased group and the healthy group according to the medical reports they provided to see if actn4 from menstrual blood is a promising biomarker for the detection of pre-cervical or cervical cancer

first stage of study: female subjects within the age group will first attend an online research briefing session. after the online briefing session, the participant is provided an opportunity to join a private 1-to-1 consultation session, which enables the participant to be more familiar with the details of the research content, consent form, study procedures, and data confidentiality. if they have no further questions regarding the research content, consent form, etc. during the consultation session. they will sign the consent for participating in the study, they will fill in a questionnaire (attached) and clinic pap smear application form (attached). the questionnaire helps the research team to understand the subject's medical, gynaecological, and sexual histories; a unique identifier code will be given to each subject. second stage of study: the research team will select the subjects based on the questionnaire answers. if the selected subjects have undergone pap test/ hpv test or coloscopy recently, within 3 months, they will submit the related medical record with the unique identifier number to us. if the selected subjects have not undergone pap test/ hpv test or coloscopy recently, within 3 months, they will be sponsored to pap test or/and hpv genotyping or/and colposcopy at the designated hospitals or clinics. when their pap test or/and hpv genotyping or/and colposcopy results are available, they or the designated hospitals/ clinics will send us the related medical reports with the unique identifier number. third stage of study: the participants will be further selected according to the medical records submitted. if the participants were selected to enter the third stage of the study, the selected subjects will submit their menstrual blood to us with a unique identifier number given.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * female aged between 18 to 65 * have menstruation * had sex before * can read and write chinese/ english * without taking any medication (except nutritional supplements, traditional chinese medicine, and health care products etc.) exclusion criteria: * subjects who used medication will be excluded from the sample collection. moreover, subjects with visible signs of gynarcological infections (e.g. gonorrhea, trichomonas vaginalis) or suffered an hiv/ hepatitis b virus (hbv)-infection will be excluded.

Keywords: pre-cervical cancer cervical cancer cin sanitary pad non-invasive detection method pap smear test