Plasma proteomic changes in response to surgical trauma and a novel transdermal analgesic treatment in dogs

VPBrowse: Genome-based representation of MS/MS spectra to quantify 10,000 bovine proteins

SWATH is a data acquisition strategy acclaimed for generating quantitatively accurate and consistent measurements of proteins across multiple samples. Its utility for proteomics studies in nonlaboratory animals, however, is currently compromised by the lack of sufficiently comprehensive and reliable public libraries, either experimental or predicted, and relevant platforms that support their sharing and utilization in an intuitive manner. Here we describe the development of the Veterinary Proteome Browser, VPBrowse (http://browser.proteo.cloud/), an on-line platform for genome-based representation of the Bos taurus proteome, which is equipped with an interactive database and tools for searching, visualization, and building quantitative mass spectrometry assays. In its current version (VPBrowse 1.0), it contains high-quality fragmentation spectra acquired on QToF instrument for over 36,000 proteotypic peptides, the experimental evidence for over 10,000 proteins. Data can be downloaded in different formats to enable analysis using popular software packages for SWATH data processing whilst normalization to iRT scale ensures compatibility with diverse chromatography systems. When applied to published blood plasma dataset from the biomarker discovery study, the resource supported label-free quantification of additional proteins not reported by the authors previously including PSMA4, a tissue leakage protein and a promising candidate biomarker of animal's response to dehorning-related injury.

Biomarkers for assessing pain and pain relief in the neonatal intensive care unit

Newborns admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) regularly undergo painful procedures and may face various painful conditions such as postoperative pain. Optimal management of pain in these vulnerable preterm and term born neonates is crucial to ensure their comfort and prevent negative consequences of neonatal pain. This entails accurate and timely identification of pain, non-pharmacological pain treatment and if needed administration of analgesic therapy, evaluation of treatment effectiveness, and monitoring of adverse effects. Despite the widely recognized importance of pain management, pain assessment in neonates has thus far proven to be a challenge. As self-report, the gold standard for pain assessment, is not possible in neonates, other methods are needed. Several observational pain scales have been developed, but these often rely on snapshot and largely subjective observations and may fail to capture pain in certain conditions. Incorporation of biomarkers alongside observational pain scores holds promise in enhancing pain assessment and, by extension, optimizing pain treatment and neonatal outcomes. This review explores the possibilities of integrating biomarkers in pain assessment in the NICU.

Discovery of plasma proteome markers associated with clinical outcome and immunological stress after cardiac surgery

Background

Molecular mechanisms underlying perioperative acute phase reactions in cardiac surgery are largely unknown. We aimed to characterise perioperative alterations of the acute phase plasma proteome in a cohort of adult patients undergoing on-pump cardiac surgery using high-throughput mass spectrometry and to identify candidate proteins potentially relevant to postoperative clinical outcome through a novel, multi-step approach.

Methods

This study is an analysis of the Bern Perioperative Biobank, a prospective cohort of adults who underwent cardiac surgery with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) at Bern University Hospital between January and December 2019. Blood samples were taken before induction of anaesthesia and on postoperative day one. Proteomic analyses were performed by mass spectrometry. Through a multi-step, exploratory approach, hit-proteins were first identified according to their perioperative prevalence and dynamics. The set of hit-proteins were associated with predefined clinical outcome measures (all-cause one-year mortality, length of hospital stay, postoperative myocardial infarction and stroke until hospital discharge).

Results

192 patients [75.5% male, median age 67.0 (IQR 60.0-73.0)] undergoing cardiac surgery with the use of CPB were included in this analysis. In total, we identified and quantified 402 proteins across all samples, whereof 30/402 (7%) proteins were identified as hit-proteins. Three hit-proteins-LDHB, VCAM1 and IGFBP2-demonstrated the strongest associations with clinical outcomes. After adjustment both for age, sex, BMI and for multiple comparisons, the scaled preoperative levels of IGFBP2 were associated with 1-year all-cause mortality (OR 10.63; 95% CI: 2.93-64.00; p = 0.046). Additionally, scaled preoperative levels of LDHB (OR 5.58; 95% CI: 2.58-8.57; p = 0.009) and VCAM1 (OR 2.32; 95% CI: 0.88-3.77; p = 0.05) were found to be associated with length of hospital stay.

Conclusions

We identified a subset of promising candidate plasma proteins relevant to outcome after on-pump cardiac surgery. IGFBP2 showed a strong association with clinical outcome measures and a significant association of preoperative levels with 1-year all-cause mortality. Other proteins strongly associated with outcome were LDHB and VCAM1, reflecting the dynamics in the acute phase response, inflammation and myocardial injury. We recommend further investigation of these proteins as potential outcome markers after cardiac surgery.

Clinical Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT04767685, data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD046496.