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A Multimodal Mass Spectrometry Imaging Approach in Pre-clinical Breast Cancer Research
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed form of cancer and the second leading cause of death in Western women. Breast cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease that has distinct biological features and clinical characteristics. In the last few years, the understanding of breast cancer progression has greatly profited from research using genetically modified mouse models.
Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is an established analytical tool for bimolecular research which can accurately determine the spatial location of molecules in a tissue section. Initially, matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) was used, but in the last few years, other techniques like desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) have been applied to tissue imaging.
In this study, we present data comparing and contrasting MALDI and DESI ionisation techniques for MS imaging cancer tissue. In the studies described we have used normal and tumour samples from the polyoma middle T oncoprotein (PyMT) mouse model of breast cancer which closely replicates the tumour progression found in the human disease1.
1: Elaine Y.Lin et all, Progression to Malignancy in the Polyoma Middle T Oncoprotein Mouse Breast Cancer Model Provides a reliable Model for Human Diseases, American Journal of Pathology, Vol. 163, No. 5, 2003.