title: The use of proteomics in the discovery of serum biomarkers from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.
abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a new infectious disease with a global impact. Understanding its pathogenesis and developing specific diagnostic methods for its early diagnosis are crucial for the effective management and control of this disease. By using proteomic technology, truncated forms of alpha(1)-antitrypsin (TF-alpha(1)-AT) were found to increase significantly and consistently in sera of SARS patients compared to control subjects. The result showed a sensitivity of 100% for SARS patients and a specificity of 92.8% for controls. Furthermore, the levels of these proteins significantly correlated with certain clinico-pathological parameters. The dramatic increase in TF-alpha(1)-AT may be the result of degradation of alpha(1)-AT. As alpha(1)-AT plays an important role in the protection of lung function, its degradation may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of SARS. These findings indicate that increased TF-alpha(1)-AT may be therapeutically relevant, and may also be a useful biological marker for the diagnosis of SARS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. yren@hkucc.hku.hk
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Qing-Yu
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Jianqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Chung-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jen-Fu
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: J S Malik
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Peiris
authors.forename: Paul Kwong Hang
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Tam
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003181:Complement C4 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D040901:Proteomics; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D003181:Complement C4; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin