Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States, and similar trends are seen world wide. The lack of early diagnosis is one of the primary reasons for the high mortality rate. A number of biomarkers have been evaluated in lung cancer patients, however, their specificity and early stage diagnostic values are limited. Using traditional protein chemistry and proteomics tool we have demonstrated higher serum haptoglobin levels in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Similar findings have been reported for other cancers including ovarian cancer and glioblastoma. Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein with at least six possible phenotypes. The six phenotypes, in combination with two post translational modifications, glycosylation and deamidation, lead to large numbers of possible haptoglobin isoforms. Recent studies indicate a possible correlation between specific haptoglobin glycosylation and particular disease conditions. In our current study, we have fractionated control and SCLC patient serum by 2-D gel electrophoresis to identify differentially expressed haptoglobin isoforms in SCLC serum samples.

中文翻译：

---

小细胞肺癌中特定触珠蛋白同种型的差异血清水平

肺癌是美国男性和女性癌症死亡的主要原因，类似的趋势在世界范围内都可以看到。缺乏早期诊断是死亡率高的主要原因之一。已经在肺癌患者中评估了许多生物标志物，但是，它们的特异性和早期诊断价值是有限的。使用传统的蛋白质化学和蛋白质组学工具，我们已经证明小细胞肺癌 (SCLC) 的血清结合珠蛋白水平较高。对于其他癌症，包括卵巢癌和胶质母细胞瘤，也有类似的发现。触珠蛋白是一种急性期蛋白，具有至少六种可能的表型。六种表型与两种翻译后修饰、糖基化和脱酰胺相结合，产生了大量可能的触珠蛋白同种型。最近的研究表明特定触珠蛋白糖基化与特定疾病状况之间可能存在相关性。在我们目前的研究中，我们通过 2-D 凝胶电泳分离了对照和 SCLC 患者血清，以鉴定 SCLC 血清样品中差异表达的触珠蛋白同种型。