[The protein profile. Statistical treatment and use of the results, principles and applications]

The serum protein profile is a biological multi parametric analysis. Its validity will be tested by multidimensional statistical treatment to help the medical decisions and the practical exploitation of the results. The mean and the range are given by classical methods which also allow the correlations of some proteins. The factorial analysis of the tables of correlations by showing the proximities between the proteins and the pathological classes gives a first indication of the structure of the data. The multidimensional approach introduces the notion of distance between two profiles, gives an automatic classification of the profiles in distinct groups and an evaluation of these groups as real pathological entities. A table of distance between the profiles can also discriminate between the groups of patients. However the biological model implies some hypotheses: does any disease imply a specific profile and the reverse? Are the variations of each protein compatible and do they require some pondering? Therefore the best in the present time is to try a multidimensional approach as an help for medical decision rather than an automatic mean of diagnosis.