DIA-Based Proteomic Analysis of Plasma Protein Profiles in Patients with Severe Acute Pancreatitis.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a pancreatic inflammatory disease that varies greatly in course and severity. To further the understanding of the pathology of AP, we carried out data-independent acquisition-based proteomic analyses using proteins extracted from the plasma of patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) (experimental group) and healthy volunteers (control group). Compared to the control group, there were 35 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the plasma of patients with SAP. Of those, the expression levels for 6 proteins were significantly increased, and 29 proteins were significantly decreased. Moreover, six candidate biomarkers-VWF, ORM2, CD5L, CAT, IGLV3-10, and LTF-were matched as candidate biomarkers of the disease severity of AP. The area under the receiver operating characteristic of 0.903 (95% CI: 0.839, 0.967) indicated that this combination of these six candidate biomarkers had a good prediction accuracy for predicting the severity of AP. Our study provides specific DEPs that may be useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of SAP, which suggests new theoretical bases for the occurrence and development of SAP and offers potential novel treatment strategies for SAP.

Cultivation and Genomic Characterization of the Bile Bacterial Species From Cholecystitis Patients.

The microbes in human bile are closely related to gallbladder health and other potential disorders. Although the bile microbial community has been investigated by recent studies using amplicon or metagenomic sequencing technologies, the genomic information of the microbial species resident in bile is rarely reported. Herein, we isolated 138 bacterial colonies from the fresh bile specimens of four cholecystitis patients using a culturome approach and genomically characterized 35 non-redundant strains using whole-genome shotgun sequencing. The bile bacterial isolates spanned 3 classes, 6 orders, 10 families, and 14 genera, of which the members of Enterococcus, Escherichia-Shigella, Lysinibacillus, and Enterobacter frequently appeared. Genomic analysis identified three species, including Providencia sp. D135, Psychrobacter sp. D093, and Vibrio sp. D074, which are not represented in existing reference genome databases. Based on the genome data, the functional capacity between bile and gut isolates was compared. The bile strains encoded 5,488 KEGG orthologs, of which 4.9% were specific to the gut strains, including the enzymes involved in biofilm formation, two-component systems, and quorum-sensing pathways. A total of 472 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were identified from the bile genomes including multidrug resistance proteins (42.6%), fluoroquinolone resistance proteins (12.3%), aminoglycoside resistance proteins (9.1%), and ß-lactamase (7.2%). Moreover, in vitro experiments showed that some bile bacteria have the capabilities for bile salt deconjugation or biotransformation (of primary bile acids into secondary bile acids). Although the physiological or pathological significance of these bacteria needs further exploration, our works expanded knowledge about the genome, diversity, and function of human bile bacteria.