Abstract
MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) allows acquisition of mass data for metabolites, lipids, peptides and proteins directly from tissue sections. IMS is typically performed either as a multiple spot profiling experiment to generate tissue specific mass profiles, or a high resolution imaging experiment where relative spatial abundance for potentially hundreds of analytes across virtually any tissue section can be measured. Crucially, imaging can be achieved without prior knowledge of tissue composition and without the use of antibodies. In effect MALDI-IMS allows generation of molecular data which complement and expand upon the information provided by histology including immuno-histochemistry, making its application valuable to both cancer biomarker research and diagnostics. The current state of MALDI-IMS, key biological applications to ovarian cancer research and practical considerations for analysis of peptides and proteins on ovarian tissue are presented in this review.
Highlights
Epidemiology of Ovarian CancerIn 2010, an estimated 21 880 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the USA [1]
While other gynaecological cancers can be diagnosed at an early stage due to effective screening (e.g., PAP smear in the case of cervical cancer) or symptoms, neither specific early disease symptoms or an early detection test exist for ovarian cancer
These nebulised preparations generate a homogeneous matrix field where the spatial acquisition resolution is usually limited to 20–50 μm for the homogeneous matrixes (CHCA and sinapinic acid (SA), see Table 4), higher resolution work has been reported for manual spray preparations [55]
Summary
In 2010, an estimated 21 880 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the USA [1]. With a projected 13 850 deaths from this disease in 2010, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynaecological malignancies. The high mortality from ovarian cancer is due to the majority of patients (64%, see Table 1) being diagnosed with advanced (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III + IV) disease, which has a maximum 5-year survival of only 30% [2]. The 5-year survival for patients with organ-confined FIGO stage I ovarian cancer exceeds. 90% and a large number of these patients are cured. Early detection is the key to increased survival in ovarian cancer
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