Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry: serum protein profiling in seminoma patients.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) allows rapid protein profiling of complex biological mixtures. We analyzed testicular germ cell cancer serum samples to differentiate between cancer and controls with a special focus on beta-hCG-negative seminomas. METHODS: Proteomic spectra were generated by the ProteinChip system and analyzed by the proteomic platform "proteomic.net". For statistical analysis, an artificial intelligence learning algorithm was used. RESULTS: The classification algorithm correctly identified the pattern in 90.4% of the patients. Decision trees predicted seminomas with 91.5% sensitivity and 89.4% specificity. Seminoma patients with normal beta-hCG serum level were correctly predicted with 80% sensitivity and 70% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates protein profiles of testicular germ cell cancer patients that differ in a highly significant degree from normal controls. Validation of these findings may enable proteomic profiling to become a valuable tool, especially for aftercare.