Serum proteome alteration of severe sepsis in the treatment of continuous renal replacement therapy

Abstract

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) techniques have occupied an important position in the intensive care units (ICU). Serum proteome alteration and protein removal in this process are not clear. Since it has a poor understanding of mechanism of the treatment, there is a specific need of proteomics research for CRRT. The aim of this research was to study the serum proteome alterations of severe sepsis patients in the treatment of CRRT. Improved knowledge of proteome alteration could lead to the development of more efficient treatment strategies. In this study, 20 severe sepsis patients were enrolled. A proteomic approach with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with mass spectrometry and bioinformatics methods was utilized to identify proteins with altered expression at different times in the treatment of continuous veno-venous haemofiltration (CVVH). All proteins were identified on the appearance of the 2-DE gel at the appropriate molecular size and pI and score from peptide mass fingerprinting. Protein identifications were confirmed by sequencing of the tryptic peptides and an independent database search based on the sequence. A further validation study was performed by western blot. Thirty-four protein spots expressed differentially were separated. Ten proteins were identified to be the commonly differentially expressed proteins in the treatment. Seven proteins decreased in the serum and three increased. This study gives a novel overview of serum proteome alteration of severe sepsis patient in the treatment of CVVH. Potentially interesting proteins have been revealed that are different from those identified by method of traditional biology.