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Exploring the human tear fluid: D iscovery of new biomarkers in multiple sclerosis
Author(s) -
Salvisberg Cindy,
Tajouri Nadja,
Hainard Alexandre,
Burkhard Pierre R.,
Lalive Patrice H.,
Turck Natacha
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
proteomics – clinical applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1862-8354
pISSN - 1862-8346
DOI - 10.1002/prca.201300053
Subject(s) - multiple sclerosis , tears , cerebrospinal fluid , medicine , biomarker , proteome , western blot , clinically isolated syndrome , mcdonald criteria , csf albumin , gastroenterology , pathology , immunology , bioinformatics , biology , biochemistry , gene
Purpose Multiple sclerosis is the first cause of progressive neurological disability among young adults living in W estern countries. Its diagnosis is mostly based on clinical evaluation, neuroimaging, and in some cases cerebrospinal fluid ( CSF ) analysis, but no definitive diagnostic test exists. We proposed here that the exploration of tears from multiple sclerosis patients could lead to the discovery of new biomarkers. Experimental design Thirty multiple sclerosis patients (20% men) recruited to the Geneva University Hospitals were included in our study (mean age ± SD [years]: 42.4 ± 15.9). Twenty‐five control patients (32% men) were also enrolled (mean age ± SD [years]: 42.7±15.1). Tears, CSF or blood was collected for each patient. Three independent quantitative (tandem mass tag) experiments were carried out between tears from multiple sclerosis and control patients. Protein verification was performed by W estern blot on tears and CSF and by ELISA on serum samples. Results Combined proteomics analyses provided 185 identified tear proteins. Among the differential proteins, alpha‐1 antichymotrypsin was the only one to be significantly increased in the three experiments with similar ratios (ratios 1.6 to 2.5, p < 0.05). Its tear, CSF and serum elevation were further confirmed by W estern blot and ELISA , respectively. Conclusions and clinical relevance This study supports the concept that modifications of the tear proteome can reflect biological abnormalities associated with multiple sclerosis and perhaps other inflammatory conditions affecting the CNS . In addition, alpha‐1 antichymotrypsin elevation in tear fluid emerges as a promising biomarker for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.