Researchers report in the October 2007 issue of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics that they have identified proteins that could be used to improve the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer.

Hepatocellular carcinoma causes about one million deaths each year and is especially frequent in Asia, especially in China, where it is the second most frequent fatal cancer. But the diagnostic methods and therapies are limited, which has prompted scientists to look for proteins inside the body that indicate the presence of the disease.

Fuchu He and colleagues have used a state-of-the-art technique called two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis to look for proteins whose copies are either increased or decreased in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Among the many proteins they found, two proteins were validated as novel potential markers of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Article: "Proteome Analysis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Two-dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis," by Wei Sun, Baocai Xing, Yi Sun, Xiaojuan Du, Min Lu, Chunyi Hao, Zhuang Lu, Wei Mi, Songfeng Wu, Handong Wei, Xue Gao, Yunping Zhu, Ying Jiang, Xiaohong Qian, and Fuchu He

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