Screening of biomarkers in renal diseases by ProteinChip System.

Needle biopsy is the standard test for the diagnosis of renal diseases. Biopsy-associated complications could not be eliminated in spite of recent refinement. The deveopment of noninvasive diagnostic test that provides insights into the mechanisms of renal diseases would be expected. Recently the advent of SELDI-TOF-MS (surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry) has extended the application of mass spectrometry to the study of proteins from complex biological systems. We applied the new protein-chip technology based on SELDI in a discovery of renal disease biomarkers. Proteomic patterns in serum by means of protein-chip were exemplified by elucidating a biomarker candidate for acute renal allograft rejection. In discovery phase protein profiles for control and rejection were compared in protein expression. The process of characterization and validation for the biomarker could be monitored by MS detection. SELDI protein-chip technology will be applied more frequently to a number of medical and basic research problems because of high resolution, high reproducibility, ease of use, and fentomole sensitivity.