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Geneva Proteomics Centre: Research activities


Our goal is to develop, improve and automate protein identification and characterization methodologies using 2-DE, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics and to further apply them in the identification of specific disease associated markers and new therapeutic targets.

The stroke marker project


Very few cerebral biomarkers such as neuron specific enolase (NSE) and S100B exist. The aim of the present study was to determine if heart-fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) could be a potential marker of stroke diagnosis or brain damage and to compare it with neuron specific enolase (NSE) and S100B tests. By the two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) separation of deceased spinal fluid proteins and mass spectometry identifications, FABP was found elevated in the spinal fluid of deceased vs. healthy patients. Since H-FABP is localised in the brain, an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was developed to detect H-FABP in stroke vs. control plasma samples. However H-FABP is a marker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as well, Troponin-I and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) levels were therefore assayed in order to exclude any heart damage. NSE and S100B levels were also assayed. These assays were assessed in serial plasma samples, from 22 control patients lacking AMI and stroke, 20 patients with AMI and 22 patients with confirmed stroke and no AMI at four time points after the admission at the medical centre. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for H-FABP in stroke were 59.1%, 90.9% and 86.7% respectively. The H-FABP assay provides a more efficient test in comparison to NSE and S100B results. In conclusion, the combination of 2-D PAGE separation, MALDI-MS identification and ELISA assay permitted the discovery of an early serum diagnosis marker for stroke.


Last modified 18/Sep/2002 by CHH
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