Screening and Therapeutic Monitoring of Multiple Myeloma by MALDI-TOF MS Analysis

M-protein is a serum biomarker directly related to clonal plasma cell load in Multiple myeloma (MM) patients and can be used as a diagnostic marker to make out disease and a quantitative marker to track disease progression and response to treatment. Identification, typing and quantification of M-proteins are useful for initial diagnosis of disease, risk stratification and monitoring of response to treatment. Although the determination of M-protein can be used as an auxiliary diagnosis of multiple myeloma, the early diagnosis and risk assessment of MM still lack convenient and effective tools for large-scale screening. In recent years, the use of matter-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for proteomic analysis of complex biological mixtures has attracted extensive attention, and has become one of the most promising methods for the detection of m proteins. In this study, we screened the population by MALDI mass spectrometry in order to detect low level circulating M-protein by a faster and more sensitive method.