Search for biomarkers for glioblastoma multiforme by applying novel proetomic techniques Free

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Cancer is one of the most serious diseases threatening human health and life, and the incidence of this disease is increasing. Early diagnosis and timely therapy is the most effective approach in improving the surviving chance of cancer patient. It is very difficult to diagnose cancer in modality because the early symptom of cancer is not evident and it has no distinct difference from that of some other illness. Therefore, it is a research emphasis to find new, effective diagnostic technology and treatment methods. Astrocytes are cells found in the brain. They are closely related to the neurons of the brain and forms the blood brain barrier. These cells can form two types of tumors: The first type is benign or slow growing, and the second type is malignant or fast growing.Glioblastoma Multiforme belongs to the second type also known as Astrocytoma type IV.A specific molecular diagnostic marker still does not exist for this cancer which has a very high mortality rateWe are involved in our laboratory to find a diagnostic marker for this very malignant brain cancer. The protein chip surface enhanced laser desorption/ionisation (SELDI) technique is a highly versatile analytical mass spectrometry system with considerable potential for detection, identification and quantitation of protein complex mixtures. The SELDI technique was used to study differential protein expression in glioblastoma cells in comparison to normal brain astrocytes. Several novel proteins were found to be expressed in the Glioblastoma cells, not present in the astrocytes. To explore the biochemical differences between these brain cancer cells and normal Astrocytes, we investigated the Raman spectra of single cell from these two cell types and analyzed the difference in spectra and intensity. Raman spectrum shows the banding pattern of different compounds as detected by the laser. Raman intensity measures the intensity of these individual bands.The Raman spectra of brain cancer cells was similar to those of normal cells, but the Raman intensity of cancer cells was much higher than those of normal cells.The Raman spectra of Glioblastoma cells showed that the structural changes of cancer cells happen so that many biological functions of these cells are lost. We also did analysis by 2D gel electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry, differential protein expression in Glioblastoma cells in comparison to the normal Astrocytes and identified several

proteins that needs farther investigation for selection as an ideal candidate for a biomarker for this type of brain cancer. We,thus have successfully applied

several cutting edge proteomic tools for identification of biomarker for Glioblastoma multiforme.

Acknowledgement: Our research is supported by Institutional NIH-EARDA grant and NSF-MEAMPS program funding, NASA grant#12554, 552764,

NSF-EPSCOR grant#DTD42501 to Dr.Banerjee.We thank these agencies for their support.

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