title: Pituitary adenoma biomarkers identified using proteomic fingerprint technology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether pituitary adenomas can be diagnosed by identifying protein biomarkers in the serum.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared serum proteins from 65 pituitary adenoma patients and 90 healthy donors using proteomic fingerprint technology combining magnetic beads with matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 42 M/Z peaks were identified as related to pituitary adenoma (P<0.01). A diagnostic model established based on three biomarkers (3382.0, 4601.9, 9191.2) showed that the sensitivity of diagnosing pituitary adenoma was 90.0% and the specificity was 88.3%. The model was further tested by blind analysis showing that the sensitivity was 88.0% and the specificity was 83.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that proteomic fingerprint technology can be used to identify pituitary adenoma biomarkers and the model based on three biomarkers (3382.0, 4601.9, 9191.2) provides a powerful and reliable method for diagnosing pituitary adenoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou Medical College, Taizhou, China. kaiyuzhoucn@163.com
authors.forename: Kai-Yu
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Hang-Huang
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Zhi-Qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Chi-Bo
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D040901:Proteomics; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001798:Blood Proteins