Novel Potential Biomarker For Diagnosis Research Articles

Serum tRNA-derived fragments as potential biomarkers in children with acute intussusception.

Pediatric intussusception is one of the most common causes of bowel obstruction in the pediatric population. Affected children have one section of the intestine sliding into the adjacent section. Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (I/R) can occur during pediatric intussusception, and any delay in diagnosis or treatment can lead to loss of intestinal viability that requires bowel resection. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA)-derived fragments (tRFs) can serve as candidate biomarkers for pediatric intussusception. Using high-throughput sequencing technology, we identified differentially expressed tRFs, and ultimately selected three tRFs to establish a signature as a predictive biomarker of pediatric intussusception. Selection of these three upregulated genes was verified using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We conducted receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the selected genes for pediatric intussusception. We detected 732 tRFs and tRNA-derived stress-induced RNA (tiRNAs), 1705 microRNAs (miRNAs), 52 differentially expressed miRNAs, and 34 differentially expressed tRFs and tiRNAs between patients and controls. Compared with controls, we found 33 upregulated miRNAs, 24 upregulated tRFs and tiRNAs, 19 downregulated miRNAs, and 10 downregulated tRFs and tiRNAs in children with intussusception. Using qPCR, the expression trends of tRF-Leu-TAA-006, tRF-Gln-TTG-033 and tRF-Lys-TTT-028 were consistent with the sequencing results. AUCs of tRF-Leu-TAA-006, tRF-Gln-TTG-033 and tRF-Lys-TTT-028 were 0.984, 0.970 and 0.837, respectively. Circulating tRF-Leu-TAA-006, tRF-Gln-TTG-033 and tRF-Lys-TTT-028 expression might be a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis of pediatric intussusception.

Novel Insights into Diagnosis, Biology and Treatment of Primary Diffuse Leptomeningeal Melanomatosis.

Primary diffuse leptomeningeal melanomatosis (PDLMM) is an extremely rare and aggressive cancer type for which best treatment strategies remain to be elucidated. Herein, we present current and prospective diagnostic strategies and treatment management of PDLMM. Against the background of an extensive literature review of published PDLMM cases and currently employed therapeutic strategies, we present an illustrative case of a pediatric patient suffering from PDLMM. We report the first case of a pediatric patient with PDLMM who received combination treatment including trametinib and everolimus, followed by intravenous nivolumab and ipilimumab with concomitant intensive intraventricular chemotherapy, resulting in temporary significant clinical improvement and overall survival of 7 months. Following this clinical experience, we performed a comprehensive literature review, identifying 26 additional cases. By these means, we provide insight into current knowledge on clinical and molecular characteristics of PDLMM. Analysis of these cases revealed that the unspecific clinical presentation, such as unrecognized increased intracranial pressure (present in 67%), is a frequent reason for the delay in diagnosis. Mortality remains substantial despite diverse therapeutic approaches with a median overall survival of 4 months from diagnosis. On the molecular level, to date, the only oncogenic driver reported so far is mutation of NRAS (n = 3), underlining a close biological relation to malignant melanoma and neurocutaneous melanosis. We further show, for the first time, that this somatic mutation can be exploited for cerebrospinal fluid liquid biopsy detection, revealing a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and monitoring of PDLMM. Last, we use a unique patient derived PDLMM cell model to provide first insights into in vitro drug sensitivities. In summary, we provide future diagnostic and therapeutic guidance for PDLMM and first insights into the use of liquid biopsy and in vitro models for this orphan cancer type.

Protein Glycopatterns in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid as Novel Potential Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent and life-threatening neoplasias worldwide due to the deficiency of ideal diagnostic biomarkers. Although aberrant glycosylation has been observed in human serum and tissue, little is known about the alterations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) that are extremely associated with lung cancer. In this study, our aim was to systematically investigate and assess the alterations of protein glycopatterns in BALF and possibility as biomarkers for diagnosis of lung cancer. Here, lectin microarrays and blotting analysis were utilized to detect the differential expression of BALF glycoproteins from patients with 80 adenocarcinomas (ADC), 77 squamous carcinomas (SCC), 51 small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and 73 benign pulmonary diseases (BPD). These 281 specimens were then randomly divided into a training cohort and validation cohort for constructing and verifying the diagnostic models based on the glycopattern abundances. Moreover, an independent test was performed with 120 newly collected BALF samples enrolled in the double-blind cohort to further assess the clinical application potential of the diagnostic models. According to the results, there were 15 (e.g., PHA-E, EEL, and BPL) and 14 lectins (e.g., PTL-II, LCA, and SJA) that individually showed significant variations in different types and stages of lung cancer compared to BPD. Notably, the diagnostic models achieved better discriminate power in the validation cohort and exhibited high accuracies of 0.917, 0.864, 0.712, 0.671, and 0.781 in the double-blind cohort for the diagnosis of lung cancer, early stage lung cancer, ADC, SCC, and SCLC, respectively. Taken together, the present study revealed that the abnormally altered protein glycopatterns in BALF are expected to be novel potential biomarkers for the identification and early diagnosis of lung cancer, which will contribute to explain the mechanism of the development of lung cancer from the perspective of glycobiology.

Roles and Mechanisms of the Long Noncoding RNAs in Cervical Cancer.

Cervical cancer (CC) continues to be one of the leading causes of death for women across the world. Although it has been determined that papillomavirus infection is one of the main causes of the etiology of the disease, genetic and epigenetic factors are also required for its progression. Among the epigenetic factors are included the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), transcripts of more than 200 nucleotides (nt) that generally do not code for proteins and have been associated with diverse functions such as the regulation of transcription, translation, RNA metabolism, as well as stem cell maintenance and differentiation, cell autophagy and apoptosis. Recently, studies have begun to characterize the aberrant regulation of lncRNAs in CC cells and tissues, including Homeobox transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR), H19, Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), Cervical Carcinoma High-Expressed 1 (CCHE1), Antisense noncoding RNA in the inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (ANRIL), Growth arrest special 5 (GAS5) and Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1). They have been associated with several disease-related processes such as cell growth, cell proliferation, cell survival, metastasis and invasion as well as therapeutic resistance, and are novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis in CC. In this review, we summarize the current literature regarding the knowledge we have about the roles and mechanisms of the lncRNAs in cervical neoplasia.

Protein Glycopatterns in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid As Novel Potential Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Background: Lung cancer (LC) is one of the most prevalent and life-threatening neoplasias worldwide due to the deficiency of ideal diagnostic biomarkers. Although aberrant glycosylation has been observed in human serum and tissue, little is known about the alterations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) that are extremely associated with LC. Methods: In this study, lectin microarrays and blotting analysis were utilized to detect the differential expression of BALF glycoproteins from patients with 80 adenocarcinomas (ADC), 77 squamous carcinomas (SCC), 51 small cell LC (SCLC), and 73 benign pulmonary diseases (BPD). These 281 specimens were then randomly divided into a training cohort and validation cohort for constructing and verifying the diagnostic models based on the glycopattern abundances. Moreover, an independent test was performed with 120 newly collected BALF samples enrolled in the double-blind cohort to further assess the clinical application potential of the diagnostic models. Findings: There were 15 and 14 lectins that individually revealed significant discrepancies in different types and stages of LC versus BPD. The diagnostic models achieved better discriminate power in the validation cohort and exhibited high accuracies of 0.917, 0.864, 0.712, 0.671 and 0.781 in the double-blind cohort for the diagnosis of LC, early stage LC, ADC, SCC, and SCLC, respectively. Interpretation: Taken together, abnormally altered protein glycopatterns in BALF are expected to be potential biomarkers for the identification and early diagnosis of LC. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (2019SF215) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871955). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The collection and use of all human BALF samples for research presented here were approved by the Ethical Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University in Xi'an, China. Written informed consent was received from patients for the collection of their BALF. This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.

The potential role of regulatory microRNAs of RAS/MAPK signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Dysregulation of RAS/MAPK signaling axis is frequently found in CRC patients. The RAS/MAPK axis regulates cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, migration, and metastasis. Oncogenic or tumor-suppressor microRNAs (miRNAs) for RAS/MAPK signaling play a key role in the pathogenesis of CRC and are considered as novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of human malignancies. This review summarizes the current knowledge of mechanisms of action of RAS/MAPK miRNAs in the development and progression of CRC for a better understanding and hence a better management of this disease.

Circular RNA circ_0002138 is down-regulated and suppresses cell proliferation in colorectal cancer

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been recently identified as widespread and diverse endogenous noncoding RNAs that may harbor vital functions in humans. However, the role of circRNAs in the process of tumorigenesis and development of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains hitherto vague. In this study, we investigated the expression level of circ_0002138 in 35 paired CRC tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and found that circ_0002138 was stably down-regulated in CRC tissues compared to paired adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.001). Fisher's exact test was further conducted to analyze the relationship between circ_0002138 expression level and clinico pathological factors of CRC patients. Circ_0002138 expression was significantly correlated with age. To evaluate the diagnostic value of circ_0002138, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used and the area under the ROC curve was 0.7249. Additionally, functional analysis demonstrated that circ_0002138 significantly inhibited CRC cell proliferation in vitro. Overall, our data suggest that circ_0002138 may become a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and treatment target of CRC.

Circular RNA circ_HIPK3 is down-regulated and suppresses cell proliferation, migration and invasion in osteosarcoma.

Circular RNA (circRNA) is associated with human cancers, however, few studies have reported its value in the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of osteosarcoma (OS). In this study, we investigated the expression level of eight selected cancer-related circRNAs including circ-Cdr1as, circ_HIPK3 and circ-ITCH in OS cell lines, tissues and plasmas by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and found that only circ_HIPK3 could stably down-regulate in the OS cell lines, tissues and plasmas than the corresponding controlled. One-way analysis of variance was further conducted to analyze the relationship between circ_HIPK3 expression level and clinic pathological factors of OS patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was built to evaluate the diagnostic values of circ_HIPK3. Circ_HIPK3 expression was significantly correlated with Enneking stage (P=0.042) and lung metastasis (P=0.036). The area under the ROC curve was 0.783 and the sensitivity and specificity were 0.56 and 0.84, respectively. Kaplan-Maier analysis also showed that lower expression of circ_HIPK3 correlated with shorter overall survival time and poor prognosis of OS patients. Besides, function analysis demonstrated that circHIPK3 overexpression significantly suppressed OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Overall, our data suggest that circ_HIPK3 may become a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and treatment target of OS.

MicroRNAs: A novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Lung cancer is still one of the most serious causes of cancer-related deaths all over the world. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are defined as small non-coding RNAs which could play a pivotal role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Increasing evidence demonstrated dysregulation of miRNA expression associates with the development and progression of NSCLC. To emphasize a variety of tissue-specific miRNAs, circulating miRNAs and miRNA-derived exosomes could be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in NSCLC patients. In the current review, we paid attention to the significant discoveries of preclinical and clinical studies, which performed on tissue-specific miRNA, circulating miRNA and exosomal miRNA. The related studies were obtained through a systematic search of Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase. A variety of tissue-specific miRNAs and circulating miRNAs with high sensitivity and specificity which could be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in NSCLC patients. In addition, we emphasize that the miRNA-derived exosomes become novel diagnostic biomarkers potentially in these patients with NSCLC. MiRNAs have emerged as non-coding RNAs, which have potential to be candidates for the diagnosis and therapy of NSCLC.

Serum Glycopatterns as Novel Potential Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Acute-on-Chronic Hepatitis B Liver Failure

Acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) is an increasingly recognized distinct disease entity encompassing an acute deterioration of liver function in patients with cirrhosis, so little is known about the alterations of protein glycopatterns in serum with its development. We aimed to identify the alterations of serum glycopatterns in ACHBLF and probe the possibility of them as novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis of ACHBLF. As a result, there were 18 lectins (e.g., WFA, GSL-II, and PNA) to give significantly alterations of serum glycopatterns in ACHBLF compared with healthy controls (HC) (all p ≤ 0.0386). Meanwhile, among these lectins, there were 12 lectins (e.g., WFA, GAL-II, and EEL) also exhibited significantly alterations of serum glycopatterns in ACHBLF compared with HBV-infected chronic hepatitis (cHB) (all p ≤ 0.0252). The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated there were 5 lectins (PHA-E + L, BS-I, ECA, ACA, and BPL) had the greatest discriminatory power for distinguishing ACHBLF and HC or cHB, respectively (all p ≤ 0.00136). We provided a new basic insight into serum glycopatterns in ACHBLF and investigated the correlation of alterations in serum glycopatterns as novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis of ACHBLF.

Comprehensive analysis of aberrantly expressed microRNA profiles reveals potential biomarkers of human lung adenocarcinoma progression.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a complex disease that poses challenges for diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the present study is to investigate LUAD-specific key microRNAs (miRNAs) from large-scale samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We used an integrative computational method to identify LUAD-specific key miRNAs related to TNM stage and lymphatic metastasis from the TCGA database. Twenty-five LUAD-specific key miRNAs (fold change >2, p<0.05) from the TCGA database were investigated, and 15 were found to be aberrantly expressed with respect to clinical features. Three miRNAs were correlated with overall survival (log-rank p<0.05). Then, 5 miRNAs were randomly selected for verification of expression in 53 LUAD patient tissues using qRT-PCR. Diagnostic value of these above 5 miRNAs was determined by areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC). Finally, the LUAD-related miRNA miR-30a-3p was selected for verification of biologic function in A549 cells. The results of tests for cell proliferation, apoptosis, and target genes suggested that miR-30a-3p decreases cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis through targeting AKT3. Therefore, miR-30a-3p may be a promising biomarker for the early screening of high-risk populations and early diagnosis of LUAD. Our studies provide insights into identifying novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of LUAD.

Interleukin-1 Receptor 2: A New Biomarker for Sepsis Diagnosis and Gram-Negative/Gram-Positive Bacterial Differentiation.

This study was undertaken to explore the value of interleukin-1 receptor 2 (IL1R2) as a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis of sepsis and discrimination of gram-negative (G)/gram-positive (G) bacterial sepsis. The study was performed in Kunming mice and septic patients. Inactive Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus were used to stimulate Kunming mice (10 CFU/kg). In clinical study, septic patients with different pathogen infection were studied, and healthy volunteers and patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome without definite infection were enrolled as control. IL1R2 transcriptions of human subjects' peripheral leukocytes were measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay. IL1R2 serum concentrations of mice and human subjects were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The value of IL1R2 as a biomarker was compared with procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II). The results showed that IL1R2 expression was upregulated in mice treated with inactive Escherichia coli and septic patients. The elevation of serum IL1R2 was more significant in septic patients infected by Escherichia coli or G bacteria than in those infected by Staphylococcus aureus or G bacteria. For sepsis diagnosis and G/G bacterial sepsis discrimination, serum IL1R2 was more sensitive and specific than the traditional biomarkers such as PCT, CRP, and APACHE II as shown by the receiver operating characteristic curves. It was suggested that IL1R2 was a potential biomarker for diagnosis and G/G bacterial differentiation in sepsis.

A pilot study of angiogenin in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis?

Characteristics of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) have not yet been fully understood. The objectives of this pilot study are to detect protein expression profile in the sera of HFPEF patients, and to identify potential biomarkers for the disease. Five hundred and seven proteins were detected in the sera of healthy volunteers and patients with either HFPEF or hypertension using antibody microarrays (three in each group). The results showed that the serum concentrations of 17 proteins (e.g. angiogenin, activin A and artemin) differed considerably between HFPEF and non-HFPEF patients (hypertensive patients and healthy controls), while a protein expression pattern distinct from that in non-HFPEF patients was associated with HFPEF patients. The up-regulation of angiogenin in both HFPEF patients with LVEF ≥50% (P = 0.004) and a subset of HFPEF patients with LVEF = 41–49% (P < 0.001) was further validated in 16 HFPEF patients and 16 healthy controls. Meanwhile, angiogenin distinguished HFPEF patients from controls with a mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.88 (P < 0.001) and a diagnostic cut-off point of 426 ng/ml. Moreover, the angiogenin levels in HFPEF patients were positively correlated with Lg(N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, NT-proBNP) (P < 0.001). In addition, high angiogenin level (≥426 ng/ml) was a predictor of all-cause death within a short-term follow-up duration, but not in the longer term of 36 months. This pilot study indicates that the aforementioned 17 potential biomarkers, such as angiogenin, may hold great promise for both diagnosis and prognosis assessment of HFPEF.

Quantitative Proteomics Approach to Screening of Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets for Laryngeal Carcinoma

To discover candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and detection of human laryngeal carcinoma and explore possible mechanisms of this cancer carcinogenesis, two-dimensional strong cation-exchange/reversed-phase nano-scale liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis was used to identify differentially expressed proteins between the laryngeal carcinoma tissue and the adjacent normal tissue. As a result, 281 proteins with significant difference in expression were identified, and four differential proteins, Profilin-1 (PFN1), Nucleolin (NCL), Cytosolic non-specific dipeptidase (CNDP2) and Mimecan (OGN) with different subcellular localization were selectively validated. Semiquantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect the expression of the four proteins employing a large collection of human laryngeal carcinoma tissues, and the results validated the differentially expressed proteins identified by the proteomics. Furthermore, we knocked down PFN1 in immortalized human laryngeal squamous cell line Hep-2 cells and then the proliferation and metastasis of these transfected cells were measured. The results showed that PFN1 silencing inhibited the proliferation and affected the migration ability of Hep-2 cells, providing some new insights into the pathogenesis of PFN1 in laryngeal carcinoma. Altogether, our present data first time show that PFN1, NCL, CNDP2 and OGN are novel potential biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic targets for laryngeal carcinoma, and PFN1 is involved in the metastasis of laryngeal carcinoma.

Circulating Liver-Specific miR-122 as a Novel Potential Biomarker for Diagnosis of Cholestatic Liver Injury

BackgroundCirculating microRNA-122 (miR-122) has been increasingly reported to be a potential biomarker for drug-, viral-, alcohol- and chemical-induced liver injury. The present study was initiated to determine the potential of circulating miR-122 as a biomarker for cholestatic liver injury.MethodsBoth bile-duct ligation (BDL) mice and patients with biliary calculi were employed as cholestatic liver injury models, and serum miR-122 level was determined by stem-loop real-time reverse-transcription PCR (SLqRT-PCR). All quantitative PCR values were normalized to those for U6 RNA and calculated with the 2−△Ct method.ResultsSerum miR-122 increased significantly after BDL-induced cholestatic injury and showed a similar time course to ALT concentrations. Compared with the sham controls, BDL mice had increased serum levels of miR-122 by 24.36±12.86, 423.63±322.89, 4.43±2.02 and 12.23±8.92 folds after 1, 3, 7 and 14 days, respectively. Moreover, serum miR-122 level was substantially higher in patients with biliary calculi than that in the healthy control group. In addition, patients with severe liver injury showed significantly higher levels of serum miR-122 when compared with healthy controls or patients with mild or moderate liver injury. Furthermore, serum miR-122 was found to show significant diagnostic value for biliary calculi by yielding an AUC (the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve) of 0.931 with 77.4% sensitivity and 96.4% specificity in discriminating biliary calculi from healthy controls.ConclusionCollectively, these data suggest that serum miR-122 has strong potential as a novel, specific and noninvasive biomarker for diagnosis of cholestasis-induced liver injury.

Nek2A contributes to tumorigenic growth and possibly functions as potential therapeutic target for human breast cancer

Nek2A (NIMA-related kinases 2A) has been known as an important centrosome regulatory factor. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Nek2A and the role it played in different stages of breast cancer. We detected the expression of Nek2A in both mRNA and protein levels in MCF10 cell lines including MCF-10A, MCF-10DCIS.com, MCF-10CA1a and in human breast samples which contained normal breast tissue (NBT), breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Our study revealed that the mRNA and protein expression of Nek2A were significantly up-regulated in MCF-10DCIS.com and MCF-10CA1a cell lines as well as in human primary breast cancer tissue (DCIS and IDC). Our study also presented a correlation between Nek2A mRNA expression and some clinic pathological factors. We found that Nek2A mRNA expression was associated with molecular subtypes, ER, PR and Ki-67 immunoreactivity (P<0.05) in DCIS and associated with histological grade, lymph node metastasis, molecular subtypes, c-erbB-2, and Ki-67 expression (P<0.05) in IDC. In addition, we observed that ectopic expression of Nek2A in "normal" immortalized MCF-10A breast epithelial cell resulted in increased Nek2A which lead to abnormal centrosomes. Furthermore, knockdown of Nek2A in MCF-10DCIS.com could remarkably inhibit cell proliferation and induce cell cycle arrest in MCF-10DCIS.com cell line. These data suggested that Nek2A might bear a close relationship with development and progression of breast carcinoma, and highlighted its role as a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and a possible therapeutic target for human breast cancer especially for DCIS.

Analysis of plasma proteome from cases of the different traditional Chinese medicine syndromes in patients with chronic hepatitis B

A proteomic analysis method, two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight MS (MALDI-TOF-MS), was used to explore the link between plasma proteome and the different syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). In compared with the plasma proteomes from health donors, the alterations in protein expression from cases of the five TCM syndromes, including damp heat stasis in the middle-Jiao syndrome, liver Qi stagnation and spleen deficiency syndrome, spleen and kidney Yang deficiency syndrome, liver and kidney Yin deficiency syndrome, and blood stasis into collateral syndrome with CHB were identified ( P < 0.05). In the cases of the five TCM syndromes with CHB, immunoglobulin J-chains (IGJ) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were up-regulated, while haptoglobin (HPT), retinol binding protein (RBP) and vitronectin were down-regulated. To further confirm these results, four proteins, including CRP, IGJ, HPT and RBP, from more plasma samples were quantified by ELISA. The results showed that the changes of protein levels were consistent with those from the 2-DE experiment. Importantly, the upregulation tendency of IGJ level in plasma is related with the different TCM syndromes with CHB ( P < 0.05). Our results show that IGJ may serve as a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis of the different TCM syndromes in patients with CHB.