title: Proteomic identification of human serum biomarkers associated with high altitude pulmonary edema.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  High altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a life-threatening disease, has no biological markers used for the routine prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to identify serum proteins differentially expressed in patients with HAPE for discovering essential biomarkers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A complete serum proteomic analysis was performed on 10 HAPE patients and on 10 high altitude and 11 sea level healthy people as control using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and peptide mass fingerprinting. Finally, two most significantly changed proteins were validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight protein spots stained with differential intensity, respresenting 5 distinct proteins were identified in patients compared with healthy controls through analysis of these composite gels. Among them, four proteins, namely alpha 1-antitrypsin(alpha1-AT), Haptoglobin(Hp), apolipoprotein A-1 (apoA-1) and Complement C3 increased remarkably, while one protein, apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) decreased significantly. The variation of alpha1-AT and Haptoglobin, as detected by ELISA, was consistent with the results from proteomic analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is well known that Hp, alpha1-AT and complement C3 are associated with inflammation and apoA-1 and apoA-IV play important roles in lipid absorption, transport and metabolism. Therefore, the significant expression changes of Hp, alpha1-AT and complement C3 and apoA-1 and apoA-IV between HAPE patients and their corresponding healthy controls highlight the role of inflammatory response system and lipid metabolism system in the pathophysiology of HAPE.
authors.forename: Yuan-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Rui-Feng
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Wen-Yu
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Zhi-Yuan
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chao-Liang
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Yin-Hu
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D010449:Peptide Mapping; D020543:Proteome; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000097:blood*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001798:Blood Proteins; D020543:Proteome