Mapping Novel Biomarkers of Liver Injury by Tissue Proteomic Analysis

Liver damage is a dynamic process, and evaluation of liver injury degree is the key step in disease diagnosis. However, few common markers among different types of liver injury have been reported. Herein, we generated three liver injury mouse models, including Con A-induced, CCl₄-injected, and subjected bile duct ligation mouse models, to simulate different types of liver damage in humans and then performed a label-free mass spectrometry to identify differentially expressed proteins in liver tissues. Interestingly, two proteins, G3BP and ABCC6, were conserved regulated in different liver injury models and are proposed to be biomarkers in liver injury, with G3BP upregulated and ABCC6 downregulated. Overall, our study identified two novel biomarkers of liver injury, and they might be used as potential drug targets of liver damage research studies.