Identification of noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers for ectopic pregnancy using data-independent acquisition (DIA)proteomics: a pilot study

At present, the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy mainly depends on transvaginal ultrasound and β-hCG. However, these methods may delay diagnosis and treatment time. Therefore, we aimed to screen for serological molecular markers for the early diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy (EP).Using data-independent acquisition (DIA)proteomics, the differential proteins in serum were selected between the intrauterine pregnancy (IP) and EP groups. Then, the expression levels of these differential proteins were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The diagnostic value of the serum biomarkers was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.GSTO1, ECM-1 and β-hCG showed significant differences between the EP and IP groups (P < 0.05). The combination of GSTO1/ECM-1/β-hCG had an area under the curve of 0.93 (95% CI 0.88–0.99), a sensitivity of 88.89% (95% CI 73.94–96.89) and a specificity of 86.11% (95% CI 70.50–95.33) with a likelihood ratio of 6.40.The combination of GSTO1/ECM-1/β-hCG may be developed into a possible approach for the early diagnosis of EP.