Quantitative Proteomics Analysis by Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantitation Identified Lumican as a Potential Marker for Acute Aortic Dissection

Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a serious vascular disease. Currently the diagnosis relies on clinical and radiological means whereas serum biomarkers are lacking. The purpose of this study was to identify potential serum biomarkers for AAD using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) approach. A total of 120 serum samples were collected from three groups: AAD patients (n = 60), patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI, n = 30), and healthy volunteers (n = 30), whereas the first 10 samples from each group were used for iTRAQ analysis. Using iTRAQ approach, a total of 174 proteins were identified as significantly different between AAD patients and healthy subjects. Among them, forty-six proteins increased more than twofold, full-scale analysis using serum sample for the entire 120 subjects demonstrated that Lumican level was significantly increased relative to control and AMI samples. Further, Lumican level correlated with time from onset to admission in AAD but not AMI samples. Using iTRAQ approach, our study showed that Lumican may be a potential AAD-related serum marker that may assist the diagnosis of AAD.