title: Comparative proteomic analysis of plasma proteins in patients with age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find the significant altered proteins in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients as potential biomarkers of AMD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comparative analysis of the protein pattern of AMD patients versus healthy controls was performed by means of proteomic analysis using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by protein identification with MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 28 proteins that were significantly altered with clinical relevance in AMD patients. These proteins were involved in a wide range of biological functions including immune responses, growth cytokines, cell fate determination, wound healing, metabolism, and anti-oxidance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate the capacity of proteomic analysis of AMD patient plasma. In addition to the utility of this approach for biomarker discovery, identification of alterations in endogenous proteins in the plasma of AMD patient could improve our understanding of the disease pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Lin
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Analytical Instrumentation Center, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Analytical Instrumentation Center, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Fu-Qiang
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: age-related macular degeneration; clinical patients; comparative proteomics; plasma proteins; two-dimensional electrophoresis