Photo by Ingela Björck
Researchers have reported using mass spectrometry to measure hundreds of proteins in a single blood sample.
And they used the resulting protein patterns to determine the severity of sepsis in animal models. They were also able to determine which organs had been damaged in these mice.
The researchers said they’ve been able to map the majority of proteins found in vital organs and list which proteins are specific to each organ.
“If you see in a blood sample that the amount of proteins from a specific organ increases, it indicates damage to this organ,” explained study author Erik Malmström, of Lund University in Sweden.
“The method provides an understanding of the molecular events that take place during the course of a disease and the possibility, using the same analysis, to study how different organs are affected.”
The researchers described this work in Nature Communications.
The group believes their study of hundreds of different proteins could eventually be used to select other important proteins that can serve as biomarkers for different aspects of sepsis.
First and foremost, however, they think their method will be an important research tool.
“There is so much we don’t know about sepsis,” Malmström said. “Why do not all patients react the same way? Why do some organs suffer the most damage in some patients and not in others? Do different bacteria cause the disease to progress? Can you divide patients into different subgroups, or bacteria, or does each new combination of patients and bacteria lead to a specific form of sepsis?”
The current study was conducted in animals, but the researchers are now moving on to human tissue. They have obtained samples of healthy tissue from various organs and are comparing protein patterns of these samples with patterns in corresponding tissues from sepsis patients.
