Comparison of normalization methods for measuring immune markers in cervical secretion specimens

► Ophthalmic sponges are used to measure immune markers in the genital tract. ► Differences in specimen volume limit comparisons of markers across individuals. ► Two normalization methods to control for this excess variability are compared. ► Normalization to total protein eliminated marker concentration to specimen volume correlation. ► Normalization to specimen weight results in a significant loss of usable specimens.