Tracing the voyage of SELDI-TOF MS in cancer biomarker discovery and its current depreciation trend - need for resurrection?

Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) has been established as a powerful analytical tool for biomarker discovery in oncology. This review visits the milestones achieved by this technique and scans the advantages and limitation of the technique as well. The need for expanding this technique for biomarker discovery with respect to diseases other than cancer has been emphasized. The future of this technique and its application to clinical research has been highlighted to have hit a dead-end. This review is an eye opener to break the silence, amidst the analytical chemists for revival of this technique, breaking barriers in its application to clinical research. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.