Elevated levels of phosphorylated fibrinogen-alpha-isoforms and differential expression of other post-translationally modified proteins in the plasma of ovarian cancer patients

J Proteome Res. 2006 Dec;5(12):3318-25. doi: 10.1021/pr060344+.

Abstract

We evaluated the differentially expressed proteins in the plasma of ovarian cancer (OVC) patients using 2-D SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with post-translational modification (PTM) specific stains after the removal of six high-abundance proteins. The pooled plasma from patients with stage III or IV OVC was compared to a pooled postmenopausal age-matched control. Several proteins were identified as differentially expressed in the plasma of OVC patients. Among them, the phosphorylated fibrinogen-alpha-chain isoform (containing fibrinopeptide-A) was found to be up-regulated. Previously in our laboratory, phosphorylated fibrinopeptide-A was found to be up-regulated in the low molecular weight fraction of serum derived from OVC patients. We examined the levels of phosphorylated fibrinogen-alpha-chain in each patient that constituted the pooled plasma using Western blot, mass spectrometry (MS), and PTM specific stains. Phosphoprotein bands containing fibrinogen-alpha-chain fragments showed up-regulation in all OVC patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Blood Proteins / analysis*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Computational Biology
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Female
  • Fibrinopeptide A / analysis*
  • Humans
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Middle Aged
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / blood*

Substances

  • Blood Proteins
  • Fibrinopeptide A