Identification of newly developed advanced schistosomiasis with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and ClinProTools analysis

Cases of newly developed advanced schistosomiasis (NDAS) have occurred in areas where schistosomiasis transmission has been blocked for more than 25 years. The causes and pathogenesis of NDAS are still unknown. Diagnosis of NDAS relies on historical investigation and clinical symptoms, such as liver fibrosis, hepatic ascites and abnormal biochemical indexes in serum. It is important but difficult at this stage to develop a new tool for early screening and rapid diagnosis. In this study, serum peptides from thirty patients with NDAS and thirty healthy controls were captured with weak cation exchange magnetic beads, and subjected to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and ClinProTools analysis. Eleven peaks with m/z 924, 2661, 2953, 2991, 3241, 3884, 5337, 5905, 5943, 7766 and 9289 were decreased and three peaks with m/z 1945, 2082 and 4282 were increased in the NDAS group. The proteomic detection pattern (PDP) was established with 14 different peptide peaks, and its sensitivity and specificity were investigated with a blind test. The peptide mass fingerprints of sera from 50 NDAS patients and 100 healthy controls were double-blind subjected to the PDP method, and 50 patients and 92 healthy controls were classified as NDAS and healthy separately, which showed 100% sensitivity and 92% specificity. Our results showed that the PDP could be a new and useful method to detect NDAS.