Publication Abstract

Liver tumours in wild flatfish: a histopathological, proteomic and metabolomic study

G.D. Stentiford, P.J. Johnson, A. Martin, W. Wenbin, D.G. Ward, M. Viant, B.P. Lyons and S.W. Feist

Fish play host to viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases in addition to non-infectious conditions such as cancer. The National Marine Monitoring Programme (NMMP) provides information to the UK Government on the health status of marine fish stocks. An aspect of this work relates to the presence of tumours and other pathologies in the liver of the offshore sentinel flatfish species, dab (Limanda limanda). Using internationally agreed quality assurance criteria, tumours and pre-tumours are diagnosed using histopathology. The current study has expanded upon this work by integrating these traditional diagnostic approaches with ones utilising modern technologies for analysis of proteomic and metabolomic profiles of selected lesions. We have applied SELDI and FT-ICR technologies (for proteomic and metabolomic analyses respectively) to tumour and non-tumour samples resected from the liver of dab. This combined approach has demonstrated the ability for these technologies to identify protein and metabolite profiles that are specific to liver tumours. Using histopathology to classify ‘analysis groups’ is key to the success of such an approach since it allows for elimination of spurious samples (e.g. those containing parasite infections) that may confuse interpretation of ‘omic data. In this study, we present pilot data, which illustrates that proteomics, and metabolomics can be used to discriminate fish liver tumours and suggest future directions for work of this type.

Reference:

G.D. Stentiford, P.J. Johnson, A. Martin, W. Wenbin, D.G. Ward, M. Viant, B.P. Lyons and S.W. Feist, 2005. Liver tumours in wild flatfish: a histopathological, proteomic and metabolomic study. Journal of Integrative Biology, 9(3): 281-299.