Researchers Identify Proteins To Help Predict TNBC

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) Researchers have identified and validated three proteins found in saliva that can predict metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). They developed a process by which biomarkers for TNBC can be identified in saliva.  

The team’s diagnosis method is based on salivary gland function, which is impaired in people with breast cancer. Their protein composition is also altered. Thus, an effective biomarker can be obtained if the difference can be identified and quantified.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in India. Yearly, more than 1.6 lakh cases are registered and more than eighty thousand deaths are due to breast cancer. About 10 to 15 per cent of all breast cancers are metastatic TNBC, the most aggressive form that does not respond to the usual hormonal and HER2-protein targeting drugs.  

The team collected saliva from healthy subjects and those diagnosed with TNBC. The proteins in these saliva samples were isolated and tested for change in abundance by targeted mass spectrometry. 

The team discovered differences in the amounts of three salivary proteins - lipocalin-1, SMR– 3B, and plastin-2 –between healthy subjects and cancer patients. Further studies isolated five peptides (the building blocks of proteins) from these three proteins, which were starkly different between aggressive TNBC and healthy subjects.  These peptides could point to the presence of TNBC with 80  per cent sensitivity and 95 per cent specificity. 

The Research was led by Dr Kiran Ambatipudi, Associate Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee, and included  Kuldeep Giri and Sudipa Maity, Doctoral Students, IIT Roorkee. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Proteomics in a research paper co-authored by the three researchers.