LC-MS used in plasma dataset study

Scientists have used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in a study of plasma to identify markers for breast cancer.

In the study, published by the Journal of Translational Medicine, the team of scientists took samples of plasma from 204 healthy people and 216 breast cancer patients, with the breast cancer patients providing further samples at three-month intervals.

The aim of the exercise was to generate proteomic profiles from the samples which would then be used to create datasets.

Over 800 LC-MS plasma proteomic profiles from prospectively collected samples of 420 individuals were obtained, with the profiles showing an average coefficient of variability of less than 15 per cent.

As a result of the clinical trial, the team were successful in creating a dataset that contains over 800 discrete human plasma profiles.

The dataset will provide an important resource in the future support of breast cancer patients and act as a tool to aid the discovery of a breast cancer biomarker.