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Lépine M, Robert MC, Sleno L. Discovery and Verification of Sjögren's Syndrome Protein Biomarkers in Tears by Targeted LC-MRM. J Proteome Res 2024. [PMID: 38682820 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune rheumatic disorder characterized by exocrine gland dysfunction, mainly from the lacrimal and salivary glands. The disease causes severe aqueous dry eye syndrome (DED) and is associated with high rates of complications, including corneal ulceration, scaring, and perforation. Systemic complications may occur as well as a higher risk of developing lymphoma. Diagnosis of SS-DED is often delayed and difficult to establish. With the aim of discovering biomarkers to help discriminate SS-DED patients, a combination of untargeted and targeted LC-MS/MS analyses were performed on tear samples collected on Schirmer strips and subjected to tryptic digestion. Following the analysis of three cohorts and the development of two targeted LC-sMRM methods for the verification of putative biomarkers found in the first cohort of samples, 64 proteins could be linked to Sjögren's syndrome, in the hopes of helping to confirm diagnoses as well as potentially stratifying the severity of disease in these patients. Proteins that were increased in SS-DED showed activation of the immune system and alterations in homeostasis. Several proteases and protease inhibitors were found to be significantly changing in SS-DED, as well as a consistent decrease in specific proteins known to be secreted by the lacrimal gland.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggy Lépine
- University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Chemistry Department, PO Box 8888, Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada
- CERMO-FC, Centre d'Excellence de Recherche sur les Maladies Orphelines-Fondation Courtois, 141 Avenue du President Kennedy, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3Y7, Canada
| | - Marie-Claude Robert
- Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de (CR-CHUM), Ophthalmology Department, 900 Saint Denis Street, Montreal, Quebec H2X 0A9, Canada
- CERMO-FC, Centre d'Excellence de Recherche sur les Maladies Orphelines-Fondation Courtois, 141 Avenue du President Kennedy, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3Y7, Canada
| | - Lekha Sleno
- University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Chemistry Department, PO Box 8888, Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada
- CERMO-FC, Centre d'Excellence de Recherche sur les Maladies Orphelines-Fondation Courtois, 141 Avenue du President Kennedy, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3Y7, Canada
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Lépine M, Zambito O, Sleno L. Targeted Workflow Investigating Variations in the Tear Proteome by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:31168-31177. [PMID: 37663498 PMCID: PMC10468840 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c03186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Proteins in tears have an important role in eye health and have been shown as a promising source of disease biomarkers. The goal of this study was to develop a robust, sensitive, and targeted method for profiling tear proteins to examine the variability within a group of healthy volunteers over three days. Inter-individual and inter-day variabilities were examined to contribute to understanding the normal variations in the tear proteome, as well as to establish which proteins may be better candidates as eventual biomarkers of specific diseases. Tear samples collected on Schirmer strips were subjected to bottom-up proteomics, and resulting peptides were analyzed using an optimized targeted method measuring 226 proteins by liquid chromatography-scheduled multiple reaction monitoring. This method was developed using an in-house database of identified proteins from tears compiled from high-resolution data-dependent liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry data. The measurement of unique peptide signals can help better understand the dynamics of each of these proteins in tears. Some interesting trends were seen in specific pathways or protein classes, including higher variabilities for those involved in glycolysis, glutathione metabolism, and cytoskeleton proteins and lower variation for those involving the degradation of the extracellular matrix. The overall aim of this study was to contribute to the field of tear proteomics with the development of a novel and targeted method that is highly amenable to the clinical laboratory using high flow LC and commonly used triple quadrupole mass spectrometry while ensuring that protein quantitation was reported based on unique peptides for each protein and robust peak areas with data normalization. These results report on variabilities on over 200 proteins that are robustly detected in tear samples from healthy volunteers with a simple sample preparation procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggy Lépine
- Chemistry Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, PO Box 8888 Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Oriana Zambito
- Chemistry Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, PO Box 8888 Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Lekha Sleno
- Chemistry Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, PO Box 8888 Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada
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Muyldermans A, Bjerke M, Demuyser T, De Geyter D, Wybo I, Soetens O, Weets I, Kuijpers R, Allard SD, Piérard D, Raus PPM. SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies in tear fluid. BMJ Open Ophthalmol 2021; 6:e000733. [PMID: 34192156 PMCID: PMC8098291 DOI: 10.1136/bmjophth-2021-000733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background/aims SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious. More evidence concerning extrapulmonary transmission routes such as the eyes is urgently needed. Although the humoral immune response is important in the viral containment, the local response in tears has not yet been studied. The aim of our study was twofold: to assess the prevalence of both SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies in tear fluid. Methods In a first series, nasopharyngeal sampling and tear sampling by Schirmer test strips were performed in 26 acutely ill patients with COVID-19 to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by reverse transcription PCR. In a second series, IgG and IgA responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in serum and tear fluid of convalescent individuals (n=22) were compared with control individuals (n=15) by ELISA. Results SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in tears of 7/26 (26.9%) patients with COVID-19. None of them had ocular symptoms. Convalescent individuals displayed a significant higher ratio of IgG (p<0.0001) and IgA (p=0.0068) in tears compared with control individuals. A sensitivity of 77.3% and specificity of 93.3% was observed for IgG, and 59.1% and 100% for IgA. Conclusions Our results demonstrate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and a local IgG and IgA immune response in tear fluid. These data confirm the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 transmission through tear fluid and the importance of the eye as a first defence against SARS-CoV-2, indicating the potential of tears as a non-invasive surrogate for serum in monitoring the host immune response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astrid Muyldermans
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Maria Bjerke
- Laboratory of Neurochemistry, Department of Clinical Biology and Center for Neurosciences, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Thomas Demuyser
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Deborah De Geyter
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ingrid Wybo
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Oriane Soetens
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ilse Weets
- Laboratory of Neurochemistry, Department of Clinical Biology and Center for Neurosciences, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Robert Kuijpers
- Department of Ophthalmology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sabine D Allard
- Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Denis Piérard
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Peter P M Raus
- Department of Ophthalmology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
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