Stage-specific analysis of plasma protein profiles in ovarian cancer: Difference in-gel electrophoresis analysis of pooled clinical samples

• Published in: Journal of carcinogenesis Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 10
• Main Authors: Bailey, Mark, Shield-Artin, Kristy, Oliva, Karen, Ayhan, Mustafa, Reisman, Simone, Rice, Gregory
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications 01.01.2013; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Original; protein depletion; disease stage; Difference in-gel electrophoresis; ovarian cancer
• ISSN: 1477-3163; 0974-6773; 1477-3163
• DOI: 10.4103/1477-3163.114216

Introduction: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer. Non-specific symptoms early in disease and the lack of specific biomarkers hinder early diagnosis. Multi-marker blood screening tests have shown promise for improving identification of early stage disease; however, available tests lack sensitivity, and specificity. Materials and Methods: In this study, pooled deeply-depleted plasma from women with Stage 1, 2 or 3 ovarian cancer and healthy controls were used to compare the 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) protein profiles and identify potential novel markers of ovarian cancer progression. Results/Discussion: Stage-specific variation in biomarker expression was observed. For example, apolipoprotein A1 expression is relatively low in control and Stage 1, but shows a substantial increase in Stage 2 and 3, thus, potential of utility for disease confirmation rather than early detection. A better marker for early stage disease was tropomyosin 4 (TPM4). The expression of TPM4 increased by 2-fold in Stage 2 before returning to "normal" levels in Stage 3 disease. Multiple isoforms were also identified for some proteins and in some cases, displayed stage-specific expression. An interesting example was fibrinogen alpha, for which 8 isoforms were identified. Four displayed a moderate increase at Stage 1 and a substantial increase for Stages 2 and 3 while the other 4 showed only moderate increases. Conclusion: Herein is provided an improved summary of blood protein profiles for women with ovarian cancer stratified by stage.