Proteomic analysis of urine reveals biomarkers for the diagnosis and phenotyping of abdominal-type Henoch-Schonlein purpura

BACKGROUND: Abdominal-type Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a common refractory disease in children. Currently, no specific diagnostic biomarker is available for HSP. METHODS: Children with abdominal type HSP were first diagnosed with three syndromes using Chinese traditional medicine. The urinary proteomes among the three syndromes of patients with abdominal type HSP and healthy controls were compared using two label-free proteomics quantifications, including data-dependent acquisition and data-independent acquisition. RESULTS: For the comparison between patients with abdominal type HSP and healthy children, a total of 75 differential urinary proteins were identified by determining the overlap of the two experiments. The ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) analysis showed that these differential proteins were correlated with the pathogenesis of abdominal type HSP. Of these, 37 proteins were distributed in 13 solid tissues as tissue-enriched proteins. Monitoring changes in these proteins might help us detect uncommon clinical manifestations of HSP. Patients with abdominal type HSP can be further distinguished into three syndromes based on the urine proteome. Finally, a panel of six urinary proteins (P25774, P09417, Q7Z5L0, P60900, P14550 and P09668) was constructed for both the diagnosis and phenotyping of abdominal type HSP. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary protein biomarkers for the diagnosis and phenotyping of abdominal type HSP were identified, which will contribute to the personalized treatment of patients with abdominal type HSP.