A Study On Associated Serum Proteins Of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma By Comparative Proteome Analysis

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC ) is a human malignant tumor derived from nasopharyngeal epithelial cells with high incidence in the several provinces of south china. Studying mechanism of nasopharyngeal carcinoma onset and development and finding out diagnostic and therapeutic methods become the most urgent in the modern medical research. Therefore, it is very important to study NPC associated serum proteins by comparative proteome analysis. The measurement of the novel NPC associated serum proteins can be an effective clinical access for detecting, diagnosing, and monitoring the disease and pathophysiological processes.In our study, we collected 33 sera from nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and 36 sera from normal individuals, pooled these samples into two groups, and then separated and compared proteins of two pooling groups by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) we established at first. After verified in randomly selected individual samples, several different proteins were screened by software analysis, picked out, digested in gel, and finally identified by mass spectrometry.Results were as follows:1. The conditions of two-dimensional electrophoresis in comparing sera were optimized, and the satisfied 2-DE maps were obtained.2. Many different proteins were screened by analyzing 2-DE maps using software Melanie 4; Compared with the normal individuals, 15 protein points appeared newly and 1 protein point vanished in sera of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.3.19 protein spots were involved mass spectrum analyses in order to get the peptide-mass fingerprints. The results of following database searches showed that two protein spots, which were proved to be the same protein, matched to 3 different databases similarly; other two proteins matched one of databases. 4. The 3 proteins were serum amyloid A protein (SAA), MLL protein (Fragment), and GTP cyclohydrolase I type IV (Fragment), which need to be further studied.Our results of comparative serum proteomics analysis might provide clues for further elucidating the role of these proteins in nasopharyngeal carcinoma carcinogenesis and developing potential associated biomarkers.