Plasma was profiled using Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption/ Ionisation-Time Of Flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. All samples underwent a single freeze-thaw cycle prior to analysis. Samples were coded, blinded and randomised before application onto weak cation exchange (CM10) ProteinChipH arrays (Bio-Rad) in duplicate, as previously described [12] . Each ProteinCh-ipH included 1 quality control standard derived from a single healthy individual, placed at random. Liquid handling steps were automated using a Biomek 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation (Beckman Coulter) and a 96 well BioprocessorH (Bio-Rad).