Proteomics applications in biomarker discovery and pathogenesis for abdominal aortic aneurysm

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common, complex, and life-threatening disease. Currently, the pathogenesis of AAA is not well understood. No biomarkers or specific drugs are available for AAA in clinical applications. Proteomics is a powerful tool in biomarker discovery, exploration of pathogenesis, and drug target identification.

Areas covered: We review the application of mass spectrometry-based proteome analysis in AAA patients within the last ten years. Differentially expressed proteins associated with AAA were identified in multiple sample sources, including vascular tissue, intraluminal thrombus, tissue secretome, blood, and cells. Some potential disease biomarkers, pathogenic mechanisms, or therapeutic targets for AAA were discovered using proteome analysis. The challenges and prospects of proteomics applied to AAA are also discussed.

Expert opinion: Since most of the previous proteomic studies used relatively small sample sizes, some promising biomarkers need to be validated in multicenter cohorts to accelerate their clinical application. With the rapid development of mass spectrometry technology, modification-specific proteomics and multi-omics research in the future will enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of AAA and promote biomarker discovery and drug development for clinical translation.

KEYWORDS:

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• biomarker
• proteomics
• pathogenesis
• therapeutic targets

Article highlights

•AAA is a common and life-threatening disease. Currently, no biomarkers or specific drugs are available for AAA patients.

•There is a great need to identify novel biomarkers of the presence, development, and rupture of AAA, which will also provide insight into this disease’s pathological mechanisms and therapeutic targets.

•Proteomics is a powerful tool in biomarker discovery, exploration of pathogenesis and, drug target identification in AAA.

•Prospective and multicenter proteomics studies are needed to accelerate biomarker discovery and clinical applications in AAA patients.

•As AAA is a highly complex disease, modification-specific proteomics, and multi-omics research in the future will provide new insights into biomarker or drug target discovery and the pathogenesis of AAA.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Author contribution

J. Wu, W. Wang and Y. Zheng contributed to the conception and design of the review article; Z. Chen and F. Xu contributed to interpreting the relevant literature; all authors have been involved in writing the review article; J. Wu and Y. Zheng revised the manuscript for intellectual content.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded by the Major Research Program of Natural Science Foundation of China [51890894], the Natural Science Foundation of China [81770481, 82070492], the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, innovation Fund for Medical Sciences [CIFMS 2017-I2M-1-008] and Youth Fund of Peking Union Medical College Hospital [pumch201912152].