Urinary Proteomics Analysis of Active Vitiligo Patients: Biomarkers for Steroid Treatment Efficacy Prediction and Monitoring

Proteomics data in vitiligo: a scoping review

An unbiased screening of which proteins are deregulated in vitiligo using proteomics can offer an enormous value. It could not only reveal robust biomarkers for detecting disease activity but can also identify which patients are most likely to respond to treatments. We performed a scoping review searching for all articles using proteomics in vitiligo. Eight manuscripts could be identified. Unfortunately, very limited overlap was found in the differentially expressed proteins between studies (15 out of 272; 5,51%) with variable degrees of the type of proteins and a substantial variety in the prevalence of acute phase proteins (range: 6-65%). Proteomics research has therefore brought little corroborating evidence on which proteins are differentially regulated between vitiligo patients and healthy controls or between active and stable vitiligo patients. While a limited patient size is an obvious weakness for several studies, an incomplete description of patient characteristics is an unfortunate and avoidable shortcoming. Additionally, the variations in the used methodology and analyses may further contribute to the overall observed variability. Nonetheless, more recent studies investigating the response to treatment seem to be more robust, as more differentially expressed proteins that have previously been confirmed to be involved in vitiligo were found. The further inclusion of proteomics analyses in clinical trials is recommended to increase insights into the pathogenic mechanisms in vitiligo and identify reliable biomarkers or promising drug targets. A harmonization in the study design, reporting and proteomics methodology could vastly improve the value of vitiligo proteomics research.

TOR1AIP1-Associated Nuclear Envelopathies

Human TOR1AIP1 encodes LAP1, a nuclear envelope protein expressed in most human tissues, which has been linked to various biological processes and human diseases. The clinical spectrum of diseases related to mutations in TOR1AIP1 is broad, including muscular dystrophy, congenital myasthenic syndrome, cardiomyopathy, and multisystemic disease with or without progeroid features. Although rare, these recessively inherited disorders often lead to early death or considerable functional impairment. Developing a better understanding of the roles of LAP1 and mutant TOR1AIP1-associated phenotypes is paramount to allow therapeutic development. To facilitate further studies, this review provides an overview of the known interactions of LAP1 and summarizes the evidence for the function of this protein in human health. We then review the mutations in the TOR1AIP1 gene and the clinical and pathological characteristics of subjects with these mutations. Lastly, we discuss challenges to be addressed in the future.

Proteomics as a tool to improve novel insights into skin diseases: what we know and where we should be going

Background

Biochemical processes involved in complex skin diseases (skin cancers, psoriasis, and wound) can be identified by combining proteomics analysis and bioinformatics tools, which gain a next-level insight into their pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutic targets.

Methods

Articles were identified through a search of PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE references dated to May 2022, to perform system data mining, and a search of the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection was utilized to conduct a visual bibliometric analysis.

Results

An increased trend line revealed that the number of publications related to proteomics utilized in skin diseases has sharply increased recent years, reaching a peak in 2021. The hottest fields focused on are skin cancer (melanoma), inflammation skin disorder (psoriasis), and skin wounds. After deduplication and title, abstract, and full-text screening, a total of 486 of the 7,822 outcomes met the inclusion/exclusion criteria for detailed data mining in the field of skin disease tooling with proteomics, with regard to skin cancer. According to the data, cell death, metabolism, skeleton, immune, and inflammation enrichment pathways are likely the major part and hotspots of proteomic analysis found in skin diseases. Also, the focuses of proteomics in skin disease are from superficial presumption to depth mechanism exploration within more comprehensive validation, from basic study to a combination or guideline for clinical applications. Furthermore, we chose skin cancer as a typical example, compared with other skin disorders. In addition to finding key pathogenic proteins and differences between diseases, proteomic analysis is also used for therapeutic evaluation or can further obtain in-depth mechanisms in the field of skin diseases.

Conclusion

Proteomics has been regarded as an irreplaceable technology in the study of pathophysiological mechanism and/or therapeutic targets of skin diseases, which could provide candidate key proteins for the insight into the biological information after gene transcription. However, depth pathogenesis and potential clinical applications need further studies with stronger evidence within a wider range of skin diseases.