The plasma proteome of rheumatic patients reveals differences in fingerprint based on the cardiovascular history

Abstract

Background and Aims : The risk of cardiovascular diseases in patients with a rheumatic background is much higher compared to the normal population. Still, it’s etiology is not fully understood. In this study the plasma proteome of patients with a rheumatic background were compared with a group of patients who on top of their rheumatic background suffered from a cardiovascular event (CVE).Methods: The cohort consisted of a rheumatic patient control group (n=10) and a patient group (n=10) with a CVE history. Samples were collected 1 year prior to the CVE and 3-6 months after the CVE. Patients were matched with controls based on age, sex and medication use. Depletion of high abundant plasma proteins (TOP-14) was followed by “bottom up” shotgun proteomics using LC-MS/MS. Rstudio was used for normalization assessment and the relative changes in protein/peptide abundance were investigated using Perseus for comparison between the groups.Results: Principle component analysis (PCA) demonstrated a difference in overall protein and peptide signature between the control group and the CVE group. A total of 282 proteins determined this potential difference. Within the CVE group PCA revealed a more comparable signature before and after the CVE. Nevertheless, still 59 proteins demonstrated significant difference in relative abundancy within the CVE group.Conclusions: Here we demonstrated the existence of potential differences in the plasma proteome of rheumatic patient’s who suffered from a CVE. This signature may already exist prior to a CVE. This gives rise to further investigation of potential risk markers which may predict a relative risk for a CVE in rheumatic diseases. Background and Aims : The risk of cardiovascular diseases in patients with a rheumatic background is much higher compared to the normal population. Still, it’s etiology is not fully understood. In this study the plasma proteome of patients with a rheumatic background were compared with a group of patients who on top of their rheumatic background suffered from a cardiovascular event (CVE). Methods: The cohort consisted of a rheumatic patient control group (n=10) and a patient group (n=10) with a CVE history. Samples were collected 1 year prior to the CVE and 3-6 months after the CVE. Patients were matched with controls based on age, sex and medication use. Depletion of high abundant plasma proteins (TOP-14) was followed by “bottom up” shotgun proteomics using LC-MS/MS. Rstudio was used for normalization assessment and the relative changes in protein/peptide abundance were investigated using Perseus for comparison between the groups. Results: Principle component analysis (PCA) demonstrated a difference in overall protein and peptide signature between the control group and the CVE group. A total of 282 proteins determined this potential difference. Within the CVE group PCA revealed a more comparable signature before and after the CVE. Nevertheless, still 59 proteins demonstrated significant difference in relative abundancy within the CVE group. Conclusions: Here we demonstrated the existence of potential differences in the plasma proteome of rheumatic patient’s who suffered from a CVE. This signature may already exist prior to a CVE. This gives rise to further investigation of potential risk markers which may predict a relative risk for a CVE in rheumatic diseases.