An integrated proteomic and glycoproteomic study for differences on glycosylation occupancy in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which certain immune cells are dysfunctional and attack their own healthy tissues. There has been great difficulty in finding an accurate and efficient method for the diagnosis of early-stage RA. The present shortage of diagnostic methods leads to the rough treatments of the patients in the late stages, such as joint removing. Nowadays, there is an increasing focus on glyco-biomarkers discovery for malicious disease via MS-based strategy. In this study, we present an integrated proteomics and glycoproteomics approach to uncover the pathological changes of some RA-related glyco-biomarkers and glyco-checkpoints involved in the RA onset. Among 39 distinctly expressive N-glycoproteins, 27 N-glycoproteins were discovered with over twofold expression significances. On the other hand, 13 proteins have been distinguished with significant differences in 53 distinctly expressed proteins identified in this study. Such an integrated approach will provide a comprehensive strategy for new potential glyco-biomarkers and checkpoints discovery in rheumatoid arthritis.