Analysis of Differentially Expressed Proteins Involved in Autoimmune Cirrhosis and Normal Serum by iTRAQ Proteomics.

PURPOSE: In order to study the candidate biomarkers in autoimmune cirrhosis (AIC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Isobaric tags are first implemented for relative and absolute quantitation technology on proteins prepared from serum obtained from AIC and normal controls. Proteins found to be differentially expressed are identified with liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry by using a Q Exactive classic ion trap mass spectrometer. RESULTS: 108 proteins (32 upregulated and 76 downregulated proteins) are identified from AIC samples, compared with the normal controls. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis, KEGG pathway analysis, and protein-protein interaction map by STRING show that they associate with multiple functional groups, including ion binding activity, peptidase activity, and enzyme regulator activity. Finally, the von Willebrand factor, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein complex acid labile subunit, transthyretin, adiponectin proteins are identified with western blot as candidate biomarkers for AIC. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These findings offer a comprehensive profile of the AIC proteome about candidate biomarkers and provide a useful basis for further analysis of the pathogenic mechanism of AIC.

Changes of B lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and their ;significance / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the changes of B lymphocyte subsets ( naive B cells, memory B cells and plasmablasts) in peripheral blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) and their correla-tions with the clinical manifestation and laboratory indexes.Methods Sixty-six patients with RA were di-vided into two groups including the group with active RA and the group with inactive RA according to the dis-ease activity score in 28 Joints (DAS28).A control group with healthy subjects was set up accordingly.The distributions of B lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood samples were detected with flow cytometry analysis and their correlations with clinical manifestations and laboratory indicators were analyzed.Results ( 1 ) Compared with healthy subjevts, the mean fluorescence intensities ( MFIs) of CD19 and the percentages of memory B cells in peripheral blood of the patients with RA were significantly decreased, while the percenta-ges of naive B cells were increased (P<0.05).The percentages of plasmablasts in the patients with active RA were significantly increased as compared with those of healthy subjects and the patients with inactive RA (P<0.05).(2) The percentages of plasmablasts in peripheral blood of the patients with RA were positively correlated with the joint tenderness count, joint swelling count and joint swelling index (P<0.05).(3) A positive correlation was found between the MFIs of CD19 and the erythrocyte sedimentation rates ( ESRs ) among the patients with RA.The percentages of plasmablasts were positively correlated with C reaction pro-tein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody (P<0.05).(4) The percentages of plasmablasts were also positively correlated with the DAS28 among the patients with RA ( R2=0.343, P<0.01).Conclusion The distributions of B lymphocyte subsets varied among the patients in different stages of RA, which were related to the patient′s clinical symptoms and laboratory indexes.The study suggested that different subsets of the B lymphocytes might play an important role in the pathological process of RA.