Differential proteomics analysis of serum exosomein burn patients

The exosome is an emerging concepts biomarkers due to their abnormal expression in various diseases. Research on exosome has already shifted from the laboratory to clinical application. This study uses bioinformatics technology to identify functional changes in proteins of serum exosomes from burn patients. A total of 231 quantifiable differentially-expressed proteins were screened out, 31 of them had statistically significant changes in expression levels. In the test group, expression of2 proteins had downregulated, whereas that of 29 proteins upregulated. Gene Ontology analysis demonstrates that differentially-expressed proteins were primarily identified in extracellular vesicles and platelet α granules, which can alter enzyme inhibitor activities, heparin-binding, coagulation, and lipid transport. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis demonstrates that ITGA2B and ITGB3 proteins, which were significantly upregulated in the burn group, were primarily involved in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Western blotting confirmed that the expressions of ITGA2B and ITGB3 in burn patient tissue samples were higher than those in the control group; conversely, the expression of CD9 was lower than that in the control group. In burn patients, the upregulated proteins ITGA2B and ITGB3 of serum exosomes likely participate in injury detection and repair via PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.