Identification of urinary peptides associated with allergic rhinitis

Abstract

BackgroundWhether in the world or in China, allergic rhinitis (AR) is a disease that seriously affects people's daily life. However, the current diagnostic methods for AR still have certain limitations. Adopt matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for proteomics detection makes it possible to screen for high-throughput biomarkers. This study intends to use this technology to analyze the urine proteomics of AR patients to find potential biomarkers for AR diagnosis. Materials and methodsUrine and clinical data were collected from 60 patients with AR and 60 healthy controls. MALDI-TOF-MS based on weak cation exchange magnetic beads was used to obtain and analyze the urine peptide profiles between AR patients and healthy controls. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic ability of identified peptides and proteins. ResultsThe results revealed significantly different expressions of nine peptide peaks between AR and healthy controls (ROC area under the curve [AUC], 0.660–0.780). We constructed a diagnostic model containing seven proteins identified from the above-mentioned peptide peaks. The AUC of the seven peptides panel for AR diagnosis was 0.882 with 75.0% sensitivity and 90.0% specificity. ConclusionsThe seven peptides diagnostic model established in this study had high specificity and moderate sensitivity in the diagnosis of AR. MALDI-TOF MS is a potential tool for diagnosing AR by the use of urine samples.