Serum-based protein biomarkers for detection of lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in terms of both incidence and mortality.The major reasons for the increasing number of deaths from lung cancer are late detection and lack of effective therapies. To improve our understanding of lung cancer biology, there is urgent need for blood-based, non-invasive molecular tests to assist in its detection in a cost-effective manner at an early stage when curative interventions are still possible. Recent advances in proteomic technology have provided extensive, high throughput analytical tools for identification, characterization and functional studies of proteomes. Changes in protein expression patterns in response to stimuli can serve as indicators or biomarkers of biological and pathological processes as well as physiological and pharmacological responses to drug treatment, thus aiding in early diagnosis and prognosis of disease. However, only a few biomarkers have been approved by the FDA to date for screening and diagnostic purposes. This review provides a brief overview of currently available proteomic techniques, their applications and limitations and the current state of knowledge about important serum biomarkers in lung cancer and their potential value as prognostic and diagnostic tools.

Identification of protein changes in the blood plasma of lung cancer patients subjected to chemotherapy using a 2D-DIGE approach

“…The results of our study and previous studies employing 2D-DIGE [30–32,34,35] clearly indicate that 2D-DIGE can be an effective method to identify proteins related to inflammation, especially acute phase proteins (APPs). These proteins include haptoglobin and its various forms, complement component C3, clusterin, and serum amyloid A [37–38]. Moreover, changes in other serum proteins are clearly indicated in this study and similar studies.…”