Joint pre-processing framework for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis images based on nonlinear filtering background correction and normalization techniques

摘要

A commonly used gel-based approach for proteomic analysis is two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE), a technique that separates proteins in a sample based on both their isoelectric point and molecular weight [1]. This technique is often used in preliminary comparative proteomic analyses, as it is capable of resolving thousands of proteins in a single run. Once the proteins in the sample have been separated, the gel is then scanned and the imaged processed using computational tools. Often these 2-DGE images exhibit anomalies due to the technique itself or to the image scan and acquisition [2]. The purpose of 2-DGE image analysis is to detect the proteins (black spots) within the gel. However, a noisy background with variable intensity, diffuse or low-intensity spots, and over-saturated spots often hinder the detection of individual proteins. Therefore, a pre-processing step that minimizes these anomalies is an open issue in the literature, as an important phase prior to analysis of these kinds of images [3].