Exogenous proteins in exhaled human breath condensate

Abstract

The analysis of the protein composition of exhaled breath to diagnose diseases of the respiratory system raises a problem of differentiation proteins of expressed in the tissues of the lungs and respiratory tract (endogenous) and got in the respiratory system from the ambient air in the process of respiration (exogenous). In this work an attempt was made to estimate a set of exhaled exogenic proteins by mass spectrometry coupled with nanoflow HPLC. Six-month isolation of healthy donors indoors with air cleaned of dust leads to removal from the spectrum of exhaled proteins of some keratins that are considered therefore to be exogenic. Non-keratin proteins may also circulate between the ambient air and human respiratory ways, but their concentration appears to be significantly lower the keratin concentrations (especially epidermis keratin). Among non-keratins dermcidin seems to be the most significant exogenic protein of exhaled air. The conclusion of the diagnostic value of exhaled proteins can be done only after careful comparison of the results of quantitative and qualitative analysis of their composition in norm and pathology for a statistically significant sample of donors.