Ciência e terapia do câncer

Identification of Potential Tumor Markers in Sudanese Breast Cancer Patients Using a Proteomic Approach

Abstract

Amany Elamin, Thomas Franz, Muntaser E Ibrahim

Breast cancer (BC) is considered as a major health problem in Sudan, being the most frequent hospital treated malignancy and the commonest cancer affecting Sudanese females (34%). Proteomics provides tools that investigate the precise molecular defect(s) in breast cancer tissue. Moreover, it plays a growingly important role in tumor markers discovery. In this study, a proteomic assay (2D-PAGE) was used to investigate the protein profiles of a panel of 12 Sudanese breast malignant tissues and 12 matched controls. Protein spots of interest were excised manually, and in-gel digested using trypsin. Proteins were identified using mass spectrometry (MALDITOF). Mascot program was used to search protein databases for matching peptides from known proteins. The overall profile was relatively similar, the preliminary results identified three proteins to be differentially expressed, suggesting that they may perform a role in breast neoplasia. Although the number of samples investigated in this study is comparatively small, to allow authoritative conclusions, the study provided three proteins that might be potential tumor markers in Sudanese breast cancer patients requiring further investigations and validation.