[Mass spectrometric analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in HCV infected patients].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the diversity of proteins' pattern of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, identify the differentially expressed proteins and analyze their roles in the mechanism of chronic hepatitis C.


METHODS
The total proteins from PBMCs in HCV infected patients (28) and healthy persons (10) were separated by the immobilized pH gradient-based 2-DE. The differentially expressed proteins were screened by PDQuest analysis software, and then identified by peptide mass fingerprint (PMF) based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and database searching.


RESULTS
2-DE results showed that the mean number of protein spots in HCV infected patients and healthy persons was 625 and 614. Twelve differential proteins were tested by MALDI-TOF-MS, and 10 of them were identified. Some of the proteins participated in protein synthesis and degradation, signal transduction, metabolism, or cytoskeleton construction while some of them were proteins of virus.


CONCLUSIONS
2-DE pattern of PBMCs from HCV infected patients or healthy persons has been established and ten differentially expressed proteins has been characterized. Our study is helpful for clinical detection of HCV infection and further research into the mechanisms of chronic hepatitis C.
Chu
Chun-li
CL
School of Basic Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Center of Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing Command, Nanjing 210029, China.
Deng
Xiao-zhao
XZ
Zhang
Yun
Y
Dong
Li-li
LL
Wang
Zhong-can
ZC
Yu
Rong-bin
RB
Wu
Chao
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult