Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative chronic disease affecting the whole joint
structures. With the increment in life expectancy and aging population, OA has
become one of the largest socioeconomic burdens, associated with pain and loss
of joint function. However, early laboratory tests of OA are still lacking.
Therefore, new diagnostic tests for this disease are urgently needed. In this
study, to gain an insight into the pathogenesis and the potential biomarkers of
OA, we implemented a comparative urine proteomics study on OA patients and
health people using iTRAQ-based mass spectrometry technology. Western blotting
was used to validate the relative changes in urine protein levels for four of
the identified proteins. We constructed a comprehensive urine proteome profile
of the OA patients and identified 102 proteins differently changed in abundance.
Forty-six proteins were upregulated and 56 proteins were significantly
downregulated in OA patients. Furthermore, the proteins, COL-4, MMP9,
adiponectin, and BBOX1 were validated through Western blots, which can serve as
valuable candidate biomarkers and help to illustrate the pathogenesis of OA.
These findings may provide clues for promising biomarkers for the early
diagnosis and also offer a theoretical basis for the early treatment of OA.
Key words
osteoarthritis - urine proteomics - iTRAQ, biomarker
