Abstract
The present study evaluated the proteomic profile of saliva and plasma from women with impalpable breast lesions using nano-liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight (nLC-Q-TOF) technology. Plasma and saliva from patients with fibroadenoma (n=10), infiltrating ductal carcinoma (n=10) and healthy control groups (n=8) were assessed by combinations of inter/intra-group analyses, revealing significant quantitative and qualitative differences. The major differentially-expressed proteins in the saliva of patients compared with the controls were α2-macroglobulin and ceruloplasmin, but the proteins that met the minimum fold-change and P-value cut-offs were leukocyte elastase inhibitor and α-enolase, and deleted in malignant brain tumors 1. Concerning plasma, α-2-macroglobulin and ceruplasmin were upregulated, while other proteins such as haptoglobin, hemopexin and vitamin D-binding protein were downregulated compared with the control. The changes in immune, molecular transport and signaling pathways were the most representative in the proteomic profile of the saliva and plasma. This is the first study to describe the proteome of saliva and plasma from the same women with impalpable breast lesions.