PNNL

Abstract

We report on the degradomic-peptidomic insights into blood plasma of early-stage breast cancer patients. The plasmin-?2-antiplasmin and thrombin-antithrombin systems are observed to be changed in early stage breast cancer through the selective degradation of their functional domains. The extracellular matrix (ECM) protection protein complexes are destroyed, but the ECM itself is not massively degraded. Key innate immune system components and cancer inhibitor and suppressor substrates are differentially degraded. The degradomic-peptidomic analysis provides information on the selectivity and extent of substrate and functional domain degradation and the specificity of substrate cleavages, potentially enabling discovery of diagnostic and therapeutic targets for early-stage breast cancer.