Profiling serum low molecular weight proteins in patients with chronic severe hepatitis

AIM:To profile the serum low molecular weight proteins in patients with chronic severe hepatitis with proteinchip technique. METHODS:28 cases of chronic severe hepatitis and 22 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Serum samples were analyzed with the surface enhanced laser desorption ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) to obtain a quantitative proteomic fingerprints with molecular masses ranging from 1 kD to 10 kD. The discriminating peaks of two groups were identified. Principal component analysis was then used as the classification method for modeling the discrimination between chronic severe hepatitis patients and healthy controls. Serum was subjected to centrifugal ultrafiltration, and the unfiltered serum and the ultrafiltrates were compared using SELDI-TOF MS. RESULTS:Compared the proteomic fingerprints of severe hepatitis serum to control serum, 39 discriminating peaks were identified (P<1×10-6). Application of principal component analysis to SELDI-TOF MS data distinguished control samples from severe hepatitis samples clearly. Compared with the unfiltered serum, the SELDI-TOF MS spectrum of the filtered serum showed very few peaks with molecular masses ranging from 1 kD to 10 kD. CONCLUSION:Differentially expressed low molecular weight proteins are observed in the serum of chronic severe hepatitis patients. On the basis of the relevant literature, the biological significance of the present study is discussed.