Proteomic Profiling of Serum from Stage I Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

Objectives: This study employed proteomic profiling to identify specific tumor markers that might improveearly diagnosis of lung squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods: Serum samples were isolated from 30 patients withstage I lung squamous cell carcinoma and 30 age-and gender-matched healthy controls, and proteomic profileswere obtained by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry.
Results: Threehighly expressed potential tumor markers were identified in the sera of stage I lung squamous cell carcinomapatients, with molecular weights of 3261.69, 3192.07, and 2556.92 Da. One protein peak with molecular weight3261.69 Da was chosen as the candidate biomarker and identified as a fibrinogen alpha chain through a searchof the IPI, NCBI or SWISS-PROT protein databases.
Conclusion: As a potential tumor biomarker, fibrinogenalpha chain may be applicable for the early diagnosis and prognosis of lung squamous cell carcinoma patients.