Biomacromolecular Mass Spectrometry ISSN: 1936-444X
Volume 3, Number 1 © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
SERUM PROTEOMICS OF CANCER PATIENTS:
PROTEIN PREPARATION
Anna Drabik1, Przemysław Mielczarek1, Marek Sierżęga2,
and Jan Kulig2
1
Department of Biochemistry and Neurobiology,
Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics,
AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland
2
First Department of Surgery,
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Poland
ABSTRACT
Cancer biomarkers are present in tumor tissues or body fluids, and encompass a wide
variety of molecules, including DNA, transcription factors, cell surface receptors, and
secreted proteins. Cancer biomarkers can be used for prognosis of the behavior of a
tumor, indicating whether the outcome for the patient is likely to be good or poor
prognosis. They can also help doctors to decide, which patients presumably will respond
to a given drug and at what dose it might be most effective.
Serum is an extremely useful sample for disease diagnosis. Plasma proteins and
peptides are released from almost every tissue and cell, and their quantity alteration is
specific not only to the tumor but also to the disease process itself, for example during
inflammation. In addition, serum is an accessible and widely collected sample.
Unfortunately, the high-abundance proteins present in serum make the identification of
biomarkers really challenging using currently available techniques. Protein content in
serum is dominated by highly abundant compounds, such as albumin, immunoglobulins,
transferrin, and macroglobulin that constitute ca. 85% of the total sample protein
composition. To detect the disease-related proteins present at very low concentrations,
the most abundant proteins have to be removed first. This chapter describes strategies that
have been developed to facilitate the analysis of low-abundance proteins in serum.
Keywords: cancer biomarkers, serum, proteomics, fractionation.
ABBREVATIONS
EtOH  ethanol
IEF  isoelectric focusing
LAC  lectin affinity chromatography