Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia
  • 2 Medical Genetics Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia
J Proteome Res, 2024 Sep 06;23(9):4027-4042.
PMID: 39150348 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00376

Abstract

Leptospirosis, a notifiable endemic disease in Malaysia, has higher mortality rates than regional dengue fever. Diverse clinical symptoms and limited diagnostic methods complicate leptospirosis diagnosis. The demand for accurate biomarker-based diagnostics is increasing. This study investigated the plasma proteome of leptospirosis patients with leptospiraemia and seroconversion compared with dengue patients and healthy subjects using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-mass spectrometry (MS). The iTRAQ analysis identified a total of 450 proteins, which were refined to a list of 290 proteins through a series of exclusion criteria. Differential expression in the plasma proteome of leptospirosis patients compared to the control groups identified 11 proteins, which are apolipoprotein A-II (APOA2), C-reactive protein (CRP), fermitin family homolog 3 (FERMT3), leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1), lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), myosin-9 (MYH9), platelet basic protein (PPBP), platelet factor 4 (PF4), profilin-1 (PFN1), serum amyloid A-1 protein (SAA1), and thrombospondin-1 (THBS1). Following a study on a verification cohort, a panel of eight plasma protein biomarkers was identified for potential leptospirosis diagnosis: CRP, LRG1, LBP, MYH9, PPBP, PF4, SAA1, and THBS1. In conclusion, a panel of eight protein biomarkers offers a promising approach for leptospirosis diagnosis, addressing the limitations of the "one disease, one biomarker" concept.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.