Abstract
Purpose: :
Vogt Koyanagi Harada syndrome (VKH) is a systemic disorder involving multiple organs, including eyes, ears, skin and meninges. Consists of 4 phases: prodromal: simulates a flu-like, characterized by auditory and neurological manifestations; acute or uveitic: characterized by a diffuse choroiditis with serous retinal detachment and papillitis and granulomatous inflammation; convalescence: characterized by depigmentation of teguments and choroid, and chronic phase with exacerbations of anterior uveitis. VKH syndrome not only causes ocular manifestations, affects auditory, nervous and tegumentary systems; an accurate diagnosis and early treatment is important. The aim of this study was to study the differential expression of proteins in the serum of patients with VKH syndrome.
Methods: :
We analyzed serum samples from patients with VKH syndrome from the Uvea Department of the Institute of Ophthalmology "Fundación Conde de Valenciana". These samples were analyzed by 2-Dimension gels to determine the expression of serum proteins in patients with VKH and compared to healthy subjects. Gels were digitalized and analyzed with Dymension Software. Proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF.
Results: :
Using two-dimensional gels, we analyzed the proteomic profiles of sera from patients with complete and incomplete VKH, and control subjects. We found two groups of proteins that showed overexpression in serum of patients with complete VKH, but not in patients with incomplete VKH, in contrast to healthy subjects. These proteins were identified as a C3 and C4, these proteins belongs to the complement pathway.
Conclusions: :
In this study we found differences in serum protein expression between the control group and patients with complete VKH (C3 and C4 proteins), which could be used as a biomarker and for the development of a diagnostic test and therapeutic target.
Keywords: uvea • proteomics • protein purification and characterization