DIFFERENTIAL SERUM LEVEL OF SPECIFIC HAPTOGLOBIN ISOFORMS IN SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States, and similar trends are seen world wide. The lack of early diagnosis is one of the primary reasons for the high mortality rate. A number of biomarkers have been evaluated in lung cancer patients, however, their specificity and early stage diagnostic values are limited. Using traditional protein chemistry and proteomics tool we have demonstrated higher serum haptoglobin levels in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Similar findings have been reported for other cancers including ovarian cancer and glioblastoma. Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein with at least six possible phenotypes. The six phenotypes, in combination with two post translational modifications, glycosylation and deamidation, lead to large numbers of possible haptoglobin isoforms. Recent studies indicate a possible correlation between specific haptoglobin glycosylation and particular disease conditions. In our current study, we have fractionated control and SCLC patient serum by 2-D gel electrophoresis to identify differentially expressed haptoglobin isoforms in SCLC serum samples.