[Screening of plasma tumor biomarkers for hypopharyngeal carcinoma by proteomics method].

OBJECTIVE: To screen tumor biomarkers in the plasma close related with hypopharyngeal carcinoma. METHODS: Pooled plasma from 6 patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma and 6 healthy individuals were collected. After removal of high-abundance plasma proteins, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) was performed to isolate the total proteins, and the protein spots with more than 2-fold differential expressions were detected by 2D analysis software followed by identification by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometer. Western blotting was performed to validate the expression level of alpha2-HS-glycoprotein. RESULTS: A total of 11 differentially expressed protein spots were selected, including 5 upregulated proteins and 6 downregulated proteins. MALDI-TOF/TOF identified the upregulated proteins in hypopharyngeal carcinoma patients as alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein and haptoglobin and downregulated ones as Ig kappa chain C region and apolipoprotein A-I. Western blotting demonstrated that alpha-2-HS- glycoprotein expression level was consistent with that detected by 2-DE. CONCLUSION: Patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma show different plasma protein profiles from healthy individuals. These differentially expressed proteins may serve as potential specific tumor biomarkers for hypopharyngeal carcinoma.