A concerted cell and serum proteomic approach for the identification of oral squamous cell carcinoma biomarkers

5512 Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cause of cancer deaths in the world. Despite extensive research, the 5-year survival rates have not changed significantly over the last decade. Presently, the lack of serum biomarkers for head and neck carcinoma limits early diagnosis and treatment monitoring of advanced disease. In this study, we used a proteomic approach on serum from mice bearing human oral squamous cell carcinoma xenografts and from conditioned cell culture medium from matched cell lines. Methods: Oral squamous cell carcinomas, with distinct invasive phenotypes, and adjacent normal tissue were obtained from human patients, and were transplanted orthotopicaly into tongues of RAG-2/γ(c) mice. After a 20% weight loss, the mice were sacrificed by exsanguinations. Two distinct proteomic protocols were used to analyze the mouse serum. The first involved albumin depletion followed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI. The second arm utilized the same ...