Specific MALDI imaging and profiling for biomarker hunting and validation: fragment of the 11S proteasome activator complex, Reg alpha fragment, is a new potential ovary cancer biomarker.

MALDI imaging mass spectrometry represents a new analytical tool to directly provide the spatial distribution and relative abundance of proteins in tissue. Twenty-five ovary carcinomas (stages III and IV) and 23 benign ovaries were directly analyzed using MALDI-TOF MS. The biomarker with the major prevalence (80%) has been fully identified using MALDI MS and nanoESI MS and MS/MS after separation by RP-HPLC and trypsin enzymatic digestion.

[MALDI imaging: a new technology to discover and validate new biomarkers].

Within the growing field of proteomics, mass spectrometry is now established as a powerful tool for peptide and protein identification and discovery from purified samples. A new era is now beginning, with the development of MALDI imaging, maintaining the sensitivity and efficacy of both discovery and identification while additionally preserving the anatomical integrity of biomolecules like peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides and lipids within tissues. Crucial developments for sample preparations have made leaps and bounds, as it is now possible to work with freezed conserved biopsies (- 80 degrees c) of more than 6 months or even conserved after paraformaldehyde fixation and paraffin embedding.

Management of multicentric lesions of the lower genital tract.

Objectives: To report management and outcome of multicentric lesions of the lower genital tract. To define risk factors of recurrence.

Study Design: Retrospective review of multicentric dysplasias treated in our colposcopic clinic between 1996 and 2003.