Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry used to screen serum diagnostic markers of colon cancer recurrence in situ following surgery.

The aim of the present study was to identify specific serum biomarkers in patients with colon cancer recurrence in situ following surgery. The study was conducted at the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China) between January 2012 and January 2014. Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to compare and analyze the serum protein profiles of patients with (n=50) and patients without (n=50) recurrence in situ. Biomarker Wizard software was used to analyze and obtain the protein spectrum. In total, nine protein peaks demonstrated statistically significant differences between the recurrence and non-recurrence group (P<0.05), which included two protein peaks (7,731.3 Da and 8,266.5 Da). The two protein peaks were highly expressed in patients with colon cancer recurrence in situ following surgery, but lowly expressed in patients without recurrence. Therefore, the two protein peaks may represent potential biomarkers for the prediction of colon cancer recurrence in situ following surgical treatment.