Serum exosomal pregnancy zone protein as a promising biomarker in inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a kind of intestinal immune dysfunction disease, and its occurrence and prevalence are on the rise worldwide. As a chronic gastrointestinal disease, its pathogenesis is still unknown. Exosomes are vesicles in various body fluids that carry a variety of substances. They can mediate intercellular communication and long-distance transport of multiple media. In this study, we investigated the protein profile of serum exosomes from healthy people and IBD patients to explore a new serological biomarker for IBD. Methods Initially, exosomes were extracted from serum samples, and the proteins within the exosomes were identified by label-free liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Western blot and ELISA were used to assess the identified protein. To further analyze the target protein, an acute colitis mouse model was established, and exosomes in colonic tissue and serum were extracted to investigate the protein in them. Results Firstly, serum exosomes were extracted from samples, and proteins in exosomes were identified by LC-MS/MS. Through statistical analysis, we identified 633 proteins. Among these proteins, pregnancy zone protein (PZP) showed a marked difference between patients with IBD and healthy people, in that its expression level was much higher in the IBD patients This exosomal protein was associated with immunosuppressive effects. Also, the level of PZP in colon tissue exosomes and serum exosomes of acute colitis mice was significantly higher than that of the control group. Conclusions Our findings indicated that serum exosome PZP was present at a high level in the IBD patients. Hence it might be a promising biomarker and enhance auxiliary diagnosis of IBD.

TMT-Based Quantitative Proteomics Analysis of Synovial Fluid-Derived Exosomes in Inflammatory Arthritis

“…Finch found that PZP was released into neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and reported a novel link between airway infection ( 23 ). It had been reported that PZP of serum-derived exosomes in inflammatory bowel disease was higher than healthy people ( 24 ). Skornicka confirmed that PZP could selectively modulate T-cell activation ( 25 ).…”

Predictive value of proteomic markers for advanced rectal cancer with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

“…The most contributing factor in the prediction model is PZP. PZP is up-regulated in a number of different inflammatory conditions and may contribute to immune regulation by non-covalently sequestering a series of other ligands including TNF-alpha, IL-2 and IL-6 [ 26 , 27 ]. In our study, PZP was shown to be correlated with nCRT response and ypT stage.…”

LC-MS/MS-Based Serum Protein Profiling for Identification of Candidate Biomarkers in Pakistani Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

“…PZP is a high-molecular-weight immunosuppressive glycoprotein that is elevated during pregnancy. The role of this protein as an autoimmunity mediator was established by a recent LC–MS/MS-based study in inflammatory bowel disease patients [ 26 ]. In this study, we also found increased expression of PZP in all the RA serotypes as compared to the controls using LC–MS/MS.…”