Research article

Proteome analysis of human gastric cardia adenocarcinoma by laser capture microdissection

Yan Cheng¹ , Jun Zhang¹ , Yang Li² , Yan Wang¹ and Jun Gong¹

¹Department of Gastroenterology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

²Department of Otolaryngology, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China

author email corresponding author email

BMC Cancer 2007, 7:191doi:10.1186/1471-2407-7-191

Published:	11 October 2007

Abstract

Background

The incidence of gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma (GCA) has been increasing in the past two decades in China, but the molecular changes relating to carcinogenesis have not been well characterised.

Methods

In this study, we used a comparative proteomic approach to analyse the malignant and nonmalignant gastric cardia epithelial cells isolated by navigated laser capture microdissection (LCM) from paired surgical specimens of human GCA.

Results

Twenty-seven spots corresponding to 23 proteins were consistently differentially regulated. Fifteen proteins were shown to be up-regulated, while eight proteins were shown to be down-regulated in malignant cells compared with nonmalignant columnar epithelial cells. The identified proteins appeared to be involved in metabolism, chaperone, antioxidation, signal transduction, apoptosis, cell proliferation, and differentiation. In addition, expressions of HSP27, 60, and Prx-2 in GCA specimens were further confirmed by immunohistochemical and western blot analyses.

Conclusion

These data indicate that the combination of navigated LCM with 2-DE provides an effective strategy for discovering proteins that are differentially expressed in GCA. Such proteins may contribute in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of GCA carcinogenesis. Furthermore, the combination provides potential clinical biomarkers that aid in early detection and provide potential therapeutic targets.