Application of clinical proteomics in acute respiratory distress syndrome

Abstract

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a devastating cause of hypoxic respiratory failure, which continues to have high mortality. It is expected that a comprehensive systems- level approach will identify global and complex changes that contribute to the development of ARDS and subsequent repair of the damaged lung. In the last decade, powerful genome-wide analytical and informatics tools have been developed, that have provided valuable insights into the mechanisms of complex diseases such as ARDS. These tools include the rapid and precise measure of gene expression at the proteomic level. This article reviews the contemporary proteomics platforms that are available for comprehensive studies in ARDS. The challenges of various biofluids that could be investigated and some of the studies performed are also discussed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40169-014-0034-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Non-targeted proteomics of acute respiratory distress syndrome: clinical and research applications

“…Up to now, proteomics has been widely used in studies of respiratory diseases, especially lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, pneumonia and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis [ 11 ]. Whereas few pieces of research focused on ARDS [ 12 ]. On the basis of previous proteomic studies of ARDS, advances in non-targeted proteomic techniques and methodologies have made it possible to use bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lung tissue, blood, and exhaled air condensate for pulmonary proteomic studies [ 16 ].…”

“…Compared with BALF, serum or plasma samples are relatively easy to obtain, and also contain some proteins associated with ARDS that may not be present in BALF, which is important to fully understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of ARDS. However, at the same time, high abundance proteins in serum may hinder the study of low abundance proteins [ 12 , 35 ].…”

“…Some studies have shown that edema fluid can be directly sampled in the early stage of ARDS [ 11 ]. What’s more, with the improvement of proteomic assessment of exhalation [ 12 ], this may be an attractive option to enhance the temporal/longitudinal evaluation of future studies.…”