Non-melanoma skin cancer and SWATH Acquisition

Sequential Windowed Acquisition of All Theoretical Fragment Ion Mass Spectra (SWATH) is one of the premier mass spectrometry acquisition strategies for identification and quantitation of proteins in a complex sample. Unlike other mass spectrometry strategies, SWATH technique allows comprehensive detection and quantitation of virtually every detectable analyte in a sample. Crossmatching these analytes with an ion library generated using shotgun proteomics then help determine the identity of ions in a SWATH file. Using this approach, here at the Department of Dermatology, we are in the process of analyzing skin biopsies from cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (poorly differentiated, moderately differentiated and well-differentiated), Bowen’s disease and Actinic Keratosis for the identification of potential biomarkers in each tumor type. We are the first to apply SWATH acquisition strategy on non-melanoma skin samples and we are hoping this study will take the proteomics research on NMSC to another level. Please monitor this blog for updates on this study.
Written by Ali Azimi