This dissertation, "ProteinChip SELDI-TOF MS Technology to Identify Serum Biomarkers for Neuroblastoma and Hepatitis B Virus-induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma" by Rui, Zhu,, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled ProteinChip SELDI-TOF MS Technology to Identify Serum Biomarkers for Neuroblastoma and Hepatitis B virus-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Submitted by ZHU Rui for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in March 2006 Neuroblastoma and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) are malignant solid tumor and continues to increase worldwide. The lack of reliable tools for early diagnosis is a leading factor accounting for the poor survival of patients. Recent proteomic studies have indicated that ProteinChip surface enhanced laser desorption / ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) technology is a promising tool for serological biomarker identification. In this study, ProteinChip SELDI-TOF MS technology was implemented to analyze the sera of normal controls and patients. In neuroblastoma biomarker exploration, normal controls and patients were scanned with five types of protein chips. Meanwhile, proteomes in sera from 3 groups of subjects, including Hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients, HBV-induced HCC and normal controls were profiled by IMAC3-Cu ProteinChip arrays and analyzed by SELDI-TOF MS. Resulting data were subjected to statistical calculation and cluster analysis. Then two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) matrix-assisted laser desorption / ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) technology was