Comparative proteomic analysis of human serum before and after liver transplantation using quantitative proteomics.

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Safer and more effective diagnostic methods for liver cancer are desirable, and biomarkers represent a potentially alternative method for diagnosis. The present study was designed to identify liver cancer biomarkers. We quantified the changes in serum protein levels between liver transplantation and healthy (control) females using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) as well as proteomic analysis. A total of 1399 proteins were identified; of these, three proteins showed significantly different concentrations between the before transplantation group and the control group. These proteins may thus be relevant to liver cancer and constitute potential liver cancer biomarkers.