Screening serum biomarkers for gastric cancer by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and tandem mass spectrometry techniques

Objective: Serum proteomic based technique is a booming field for screening gastric cancer biomarkers.This study was designed to find serum protein difference between gastric cancer patients and healthy persons by proteomic techniques.Methods: We collected serum samples from 20 gastric cancer patients in pTNM Stages Ⅰ-Ⅳ,with 5 in each stage,and compared them with those from 10 normal controls.Albumin and IgG were selectively removed from the samples using an immunoaffinity column.The proteins in the samples were separated by 2-DE,and differential protein spots identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS.A candidate serum biomarker was validated by Western blot.Results: Compared with the healthy individuals,the content of the complement C4-B precursor was obviously increased and that of the complement factor I precursor and haptoglobin precursor significantly decreased in the serum samples of the gastric cancer patients(P0.01).Conclusion: The two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-based serum proteomic technique may be useful in screening serum biomarkers for gastric cancer.