ABSTRACT
Objective To identify and characterize uveal melanoma associated protein variants with two-dimensional electrophore- sis and mass spectrometry.Design Experiment study.Participants 4 cases of specimens of uveal melanoma and 4 cases of normal con- tributed uveal tissue.Methods Proteins from uveal melanoma and normal urea were separated with two-dimensional eleetrophoresis (2-DE)and visualized with Coomassie G-250.Gels were analyzed by Image Master 5.0 software.The mass spectra were measured by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizatian time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS)and searched against NCBI database using Mascot software.Main Outcome Measures Differential proteins.Results A set of 30 proteins were differentially expressed in uveal melanoma compared to nomal urea.Twenty-four types of protein only expressed in uveal melanoma.Five types of protein were up-regu- lated and 1 type of one down-regulated.These proteins can be subdivided into groups according to cellular function,such as enzyme, signal transduction,signal regulation,cytoskehton,immune,etc.Conclusions There is significant difference in protein profilings be- tween uveal melanoma and normal uvea.The differentially expressed proteins may be associated with the development of uveal melanoma.