Proteomic profiling of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis protein expression data

We have undertaken two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) proteomic profiling on a series of cell lines with different recombinant antibody production rates. Due to the nature of 2-DE proteomic investigations there will always be 'process variability' factors in any data set collected in this way. Some of this variation will arise during sample preparation, gel running and staining, while further variation will arise from the gel analysis procedure. Therefore, in order to identify all significant changes in protein expression between biological samples Men analysed by 2-DE, the system precision or 'error', and how this correlates to protein abundance, must be known. Only then can the system be considered robust and investigators accurately and confidently report all observable statistically significant changes in protein expression. We introduce an expression variability test to identify protein spots whose expression correlates with increased antibody production. The results have highlighted a small number of candidate proteins for further investigation.