文摘
New biomarkers for pancreas cancer are needed to improve its detection and management. We surveyedthe plasma of patients undergoing surgical resection to identify proteins which change in abundanceafter complete resection of tumor. Using longitudinally collected specimens from surgical patients, wecontrol for normal inter-individual variation which can confound cross-sectional analysis. Recentrefinements in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis allowed us to quantify changes in low abundanceplasma proteins with precision. To circumvent the traditional limitations of image analysis in comparingtwo-dimensional gels, we used fluorometric two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis to resolvethe proteins from pre- and post-surgical plasma from each patient on one physical gel. Furthermore,we increased the ability of our assay to detect low-abundance proteins by depleting the plasma of 12high-abundance proteins with a multi-affinity column. Informative protein spots from 20 plasma samplesacross 10 patients were submitted for identification with mass-spectrometry. We identified a group ofproteins which change consistently in plasma following complete resection of pancreas tumor.Furthermore, we identified proteins which correlate with post-surgical rapid recurrence of disease. Withfurther identification and validation, the candidate biomarkers which we identify in this study mayprove to be useful in the diagnosis, management and prognostication of patients with pancreas cancer.