Separation and identification of differentially expressed proteins in pancreatic carcinoma by two-dimen-sional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

Objective To find potential molecular targets for pancreatic cancer diagnostics by analyzing and comparing the proteomes expressed in human pancreatic carcinoma, paracancerous tis-sues and normal pancreas. Methods The proteins expressed in these tissues were analyzed by the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The differentially expressed proteins in tumors were in-gel digested and analyzed by mass spectrometry, and differential expression of some of the identified proteins was further validated by Western blot analysis. Results Protein extracts of individual sample of each type of tissues were separated on 2D gels. By comparison,there were twenty differentially expressed pro-teins in the tissues of pancreatic cancer. Eleven proteins were successfully identified by ms and six pro-teins including galectin-1, SLP-2, sorcin, 3BP-2, BB1 and NCC27 were orerexpresed in tumors. The overexpression of galectin-1 and SLP-2 was further confirmed by Western blot analysis. Conclusion Significant discrepancies in protein expression exist between pancreatic cancer tissues, paracancerous tissues and normal tissues. Some of the differentially expressed proteins found by the proteomic ap-proach may be potential molecular targets for pancreatic cancer diagnostics. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms;  Proteome;  Two-dimensional electrophoresis;  Tumor marker