Diagnostic and prognostic role of serum protein peak at 6449 m/z in gastric adenocarcinoma based on mass spectrometry

Abstract

Background:Gastric cancer (GC) is a highly aggressive cancer type associated with significant mortality owing to delayed diagnosis and non-specific symptoms observed in the early stages. Therefore, identification of novel specific GC serum biomarkers for screening purposes is an urgent clinical requirement.Methods:This study recruited a total of 432 serum samples from 296 GC patients split into the mining and testing sets. We aimed to screen for reliable protein biomarkers from matched serum samples based on mass spectrometry, followed by comparison with three representative conventional markers using receiver operating characteristic and survival curve analyses to ascertain their potential values as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for GC.Results:We identified an apoC-III fragment with confirmation in an independent test set from a second hospital. We found that the diagnostic ability of this fragment performed better than current standard GC diagnostic biomarkers both individually and in combination in distinguishing patients with GC from healthy individuals. Moreover, we found that this apoC-III protein fragment represents a more robust potential prognostic factor for GC than the three conventional markers.Conclusions:In view of these findings, we suggest that apoC-III protein fragment is a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, a complement to conventional biomarkers in detecting GC.

Identification of serum proteins AHSG, FGA and APOA-I as diagnostic biomarkers for gastric cancer

“…Signe Borgquist et al reported that overall cancer risk is associated with the circulatory content of apolipoproteins in males [ 35 ]. Recent studies have also revealed that some apolipoproteins, such as APOC-I [ 36 ] and APOC-III [ 37 ], were overexpressed in serum samples derived from GC patients. APOA-I, which is produced in the liver and intestine [ 38 ], is a primary structural and functional portion of high-density lipoprotein and plays an indispensable role in cholesterol transportation and metabolism homeostasis [ 39 ].…”

Advancement of mass spectrometry-based proteomics technologies to explore triple negative breast cancer

“…Additionally, a label-free proteomic study identified Iroquois homeobox protein 1 (IRX1), which is involved in metanephric nephron development, as a potential plasma biomarker for TNBC 106 . Recently Song et al identified apolipoprotein C-I in their MALDI-TOF based TNBC patient serum sample study which could readily discriminate TNBC from non-TNBC tumors 107 .…”

Recent advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics of gastric cancer

“…Like MALDI, SELDI is usually coupled with TOF for protein identification. Using SELDI-TOF, Song et al[ 17 ] identified 15 proteins that were differentially regulated in the serum samples from 296 gastric cancer patients.…”