Proteomic analysis of resectable non-small cell lung cancer: Post-resection serum samples may be useful in identifying potential markers

Abstract

Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation time-of-fight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) can be used to analyze peptides and proteins in clinical samples. A prospective study was undertaken on patients undergoing curative resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): we used SELDI-TOF-MS to compare the proteomic profles of serum from these patients both before surgical resection and after resection (disease-free) to identify potential biomarkers. Student t-tests were used, and a P-value of <0.01 was considered significant. Twenty-five patients with NSCLC [76% male, mean age 69 (range 53-81) years] were analyzed. There were 13 squamous cell carcinomas, 10 adenocarcinomas and 2 large cell carcinomas with a stage distribution of four stage IA, 11 stage IB, five stage IIB, three stage IIIA, one stage IIIB and one stage IV. SELDI spectra generated with immobilized metal affinity chromatography arrays produced 170 peaks. Of these, 35 showed significant differences in their intensities between the preoperative and post-resection states (P<0.01). Postoperative samples in the disease-free state may represent good controls to identify biomarkers in NSCLC, avoiding the difficulties associated with cross-sectional studies. These pilot data need to be validated with larger numbers of patients. © 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.