1. ¹Cancer Research UK Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
2. ²APHP Hospital Jean Verdier, Bondy and Université Paris 13, Paris, France

Correspondence: Professor PJ Johnson, E-mail: p.johnson@bham.ac.uk

Revised 18 July 2006; Accepted 15 September 2006; Published online 24 October 2006.

Abstract

SELDI-based proteomic profiling of body fluids is currently in widespread use for cancer biomarker discovery. We have successfully used this technology for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in hepatitis C patients and now report its application to serial serum samples from 37 hepatitis C patients before development of HCC, with HCC and following radiofrequency ablation of the tumour. As with alpha-fetoprotein, an accepted biomarker for HCC, we hypothesised that HCC-associated proteomic features would 'return to normal' following successful treatment and the primary aim of our study was to test this hypothesis. Several SELDI peaks that changed significantly during HCC development were detected but they did not reverse following treatment. These data may be interpreted to suggest that the characteristic SELDI profile is not linearly related to tumour burden but may result from the progression of underlying liver disease or from the emergence of precancerous lesions. 2-Microglobulin, a protein previously reported to be markedly elevated in patients with HCV related HCC, was also the most significantly HCC associated proteomic feature (m/z 11720) in this study.