title: Detection of pancreatic cancer biomarkers using mass spectrometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Therefore, in order to improve survival rates, the development of biomarkers for early diagnosis is crucial. Recently, diabetes has been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. The aims of this study were to search for novel serum biomarkers that could be used for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and to identify whether diabetes was a risk factor for this disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were collected from 25 patients with diabetes (control) and 93 patients with pancreatic cancer (including 53 patients with diabetes), and analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS). We performed preprocessing, and various classification methods with imputation were used to replace the missing values. To validate the selection of biomarkers identified in pancreatic cancer patients, we measured biomarker intensity in pancreatic cancer patients with diabetes following surgical resection and compared our results with those from control (diabetes-only) patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By using various classification methods, we identified the commonly splitting protein peaks as m/z 1,465, 1,206, and 1,020. In the follow-up study, in which we assessed biomarkers in pancreatic cancer patients with diabetes after surgical resection, we found that the intensities of m/z at 1,465, 1,206, and 1,020 became comparable with those of diabetes-only patients.
authors: Department of Statistics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Kiyoun
authors: K
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Statistics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Soohyun
authors: S
authors: Ahn
authors: Department of Statistics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Johan
authors: J
authors: Lim
authors: Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
authors: Byong Chul
authors: BC
authors: Yoo
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongman, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jin-Hyeok
authors: JH
authors: Hwang
authors: Department of Statistics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Woncheol
authors: W
authors: Jang
keywords: biomarker; classification; mass spectrometry; pancreatic cancer