Proteome evaluation of human cystic echinococcosis sera using two dimensional gel electrophoresis.

Aim: Detection of protein expression changes in human cystic echinococcosis sera by 2D gel electrophoresis.

Background: Diagnosis and successful treatment of cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a major challenge, up to now. Identification of related expressed proteins using proteomics tools and bioinformatics analysis of patients' sera have not been investigated, so far.

Methods: Sera from eight confirmed CE patients and three healthy controls were collected, tested by 2-DE for total protein separation of serum and analyzed using proteomics and bioinformatics methods. The gels were stained by Coomassie blue followed by scan imaging of the gels. The protein spots in each gel were analyzed using progenesis same spots software. Proteins names were obtained from TagIdent server.

Results: A total of 263 protein spots with different expression were detected in both normal and diseased samples. Comparison between diseased and normal gels showed the expression of 45 up-regulated protein spots with fold≥2 in diseased gel of which 10 were new proteins with statistical difference by normal gel (p-value<0.05). On the other hand, the expression of 50 down-regulated protein spots were observed of which 11 proteins have been suppressed. Clustering of all detected sera proteins (263) using correlation analysis, divided the proteins into 2 clusters based on up-regulated and down-regulated expression of proteins. Clustering results were approved by principal component analysis (PCA).

Conclusion: Significant protein expression changes in human CE sera which is demonstrable by application of proteomics and bioinformatics analysis makes it an impressing tool for diagnosis of CE patients.