Differentially expressed peptides between endometrial cancer tissues and normal endometrial tissues

Malignant cancers are characterized by metabolic reprogramming, including glycolysis, lipid oxidation, and proteostasis. Protein expression and degradation levels fluctuate dramatically during tumorigenesis, and aberrant protein homeostasis contributes to most of biological events in tumor evolution, while little information has been explored about the degraded protein fragments in endometrial cancer progression. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to systematically analyze the peptidome characters of i-TRAQ labeled endometrial carcinoma by using targeted LC-MS/MS. We included three endometrial carcinoma inpatients and three age-paired non-endometrial carcinoma inpatients in the study. Endometrial carcinoma was diagnosed by examining surgical specimens, and pathological validation was performed based on the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) guidelines. Following sample preparation, the peptides were extracted, purified, and labeled, after which the analyses were performed. The results of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry revealed that approximately 874 peptides might be involved in endometrial carcinoma tumorigenesis.