Application of proteome profiling in the clinical diagnosis of breast cancer

Abstract

The early diagnosis, prognosis, and anticipation of breast cancer are crucial for proper treatment and patient survival. This disease imposes quite a severe health care encumbrance on women globally. Breast cancer classification has emphasized several global efforts, and analysis of the subtypes of the molecular basis of breast cancer has aimed to associate them with clinical outcomes and improve the current diagnostic routine. Since the last two decades, proteomics-based methods for studying breast cancer's natural history and treatment are gaining traction. In this review, some of the proteome profiling studies of tissues, plasma, serum and saliva conducted mainly by mass spectrometry-based approaches – including MALDI-TOF and SELDI-TOF are discussed. This review also emphasized tissue microarray studies and their role in identifying clinical tissues and markers in breast cancer.