Objectives Cervical cancer remains a severe disease among the female population, although the mortality rate of cervical cancer is declined due to the widespread applications of Pap smear tests and vaccination. Once patients were diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer, it usually came with poor prognosis. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying cervical cancer invasion.

Methods In this study, we used 2D-DIGE, MALDI-TOF/TOF MS, and small interfering RNA to discover the potential biomarkers in a pair of cervical cell lines HeLa and its invasive partner HeLa-I5. The marker expression in metastatic cervical cell line Ca Ski and ME-180 and in cervical tissue microarray were further examined.

Results There were 68 proteins differentially expressed between the proteomic profiles of HeLa and HeLa-I5. Functional ontology annotated these proteins are mainly in groups of glycolysis, cytoskeleton, protein folding, and redox regulation. In which, one of the potential candidates called progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) was higher expressed in HeLa-I5. By using RNAi to knockdown PGRMC1 expression, the abilities for cell proliferation, transwell migration, and invasion were significantly reduced in HeLa-I5, Ca Ski, and ME-180. Further, higher PGRMC1 expression in grade 3 cervical cancer tissues was observed.

Conclusions PGRMC1 plays an essential role in mediating cell metastasis as well as progression in cervical cancer cells and might be a potential target for the treatment of cervical cancer. The clinical application of PGRMC1 needs to be further evaluated.