243), and BPS settings were as follows: method=1.60, advanced = 10 and testing = 10. Peaks of m/z 7626, 8561 and 8608 (Fig. 2) were selected in the classified algorithm, and m/z 8608 was the root node. The intensity of m/z 8561 was down-regulated in patients with active TB compared with non-TB group, whereas m/z 7626 and 8608 were up-regulated (Table 2, Fig. 3). All the 106 samples of the training set were assigned into four terminal nodes. The samples allocated to

Vadimezan research buy terminal nodes 2 and 4 were classified as active TB, but to terminal nodes 1 and 3 were classified as non-TB. For example, if an unknown sample had peaks of m/z 8608 (intensity > 14.28) and m/z 8561 (intensity < 7.00), then this sample was assigned in terminal node 2 and classified as active TB. In the training set, this model could identify 38 of 45 active TB, 60 of 61 patients with non-TB, and that is sensitivity of 98.3% Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor and specificity of 84.4% (Table 3). The corresponding receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve of the optimal decision

tree was supplied by the BPS. The ROC integral was 0.934 (Fig. 4). Seventy-two samples including 30 individuals of active TB group and 42 of non-TB group (Table 1) in the test set were used to validate the active TB classification tree model. And it showed that the decision tree could distinguish active TB and non-TB with the sensitivity and specificity of 85.7% and 83.3%, respectively (Table 3). The distinctive peaks among SPP-TB, SNP-TB and non-TB group also have been figured out by BMW. Surprisingly, 54 peaks were found differential expression (Table 4), and 40 of them also showed up in Table 2. In this study, we reported a classification

tree model of active TB obtained by MALDI-TOF MS analysis coupled with WCX magnetic beads pretreatment. Although only 5 μl serum of each sample was taken to perform this research, we achieved comprehensive serum proteomic fingerprint of all the individuals. Moreover, this strategy provided massive bioinformatic data that facilitate the identification of active TB biomarkers. The molecular weights of these discriminating peaks were usually under 30 kDa. And recent report old also indicated that identifying low molecular weight proteins and peptides is valuable for developing specific assays and extending biological insight of the disease [26]. Forty-eight proteins were recognized as differential expression between active TB group and non-TB group, which suggested that a wide range of proteins might be involved in pathogenesis of active TB (Table 2). The BPS enabled us to establish an optimal classification tree model by analyzing data of the training set, and the final model contained three m/z peaks, 7626, 8561 and 8608 m/z, and can efficiently help identify patients with active TB (Fig. 1). The performance of the model achieved an accuracy of 93.4% (Fig. 4), which was better than common clinical diagnostic tests of active TB.