Detection of papillary thyroid carcinoma with serum protein profile analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the sensitivity and specificity of surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) detection.


METHODS
The SELDI-TOF-MS protein profiles of patients with PTC, patients with benign nodular disease (BND), and healthy controls were analyzed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of SELDI-TOF-MS assay for PTC detection. Data analysis was performed to process the spectral data and classify the disease status of the patients.


METHODS
Academic tertiary care hospital.


METHODS
Serum samples were collected prospectively from 7 patients with PTC, 8 patients with BND, and 7 healthy control volunteers.


METHODS
All patients diagnosed as having PTC or BND underwent thyroidectomy from October 21, 2004, to January 31, 2006.


METHODS
Twenty-two serum samples were analyzed.


RESULTS
Most protein peaks resolved by the SELDI-TOF-MS assay were in the range of 1 to 20 kDa. Classification tree analysis based on peak expression distinguished patients with PTC from those with BND with 85.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Serum samples from patients with PTC differed most significantly from those of patients with BND by the underexpression of a protein peak at 11 101 Da.


CONCLUSIONS
This pilot study demonstrates that proteomic analysis of serum protein profiles distinguishes patients with PTC from patients with BND with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. Further investigation into the clinical utility of this technology in PTC biomarker detection and surveillance is warranted.
Moretz
William H
WH
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912-4060, USA.
Gourin
Christine G
CG
Terris
David J
DJ
Xia
Zhong-Sheng
ZS
Liu
Zhongmin
Z
Weinberger
Paul M
PM
Chin
Edward
E
Adam
Bao-Ling
BL
D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D040901:Proteomics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization