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Salivary Proteome Is Altered in Children With Small Area Thermal Burns
Morgan Carlton1,2, Tuo Zang1,2, Tony J Parker1
1School of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Insights
Saliva analysis reveals key protein changes in children with burns, offering insights into immune responses and healing. This study highlights saliva as a promising tool for pediatric burn biomarker discovery.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Burn Injury
- Proteomics
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Saliva is an accessible biofluid in children, yet its potential for assessing systemic responses to burn injuries remains unexplored.
- Understanding the molecular changes following pediatric burns is crucial for diagnosis and prognosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the salivary proteome in children with thermal skin burns.
- To correlate salivary protein profiles with burn characteristics such as mechanism, healing time, and emotional distress risk.
Main Methods:
- SWATH Mass Spectrometry was employed to quantify 742 proteins in saliva samples.
- A cohort of pediatric burn patients (n=22) and healthy controls (n=37) were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Eight proteins were differentially abundant in burn patients, linked to immune processes, epidermal differentiation, and transferrin receptor binding.
- Burn mechanisms showed distinct protein profiles: scald burns related to immune responses, contact burns to cornification and cell death.
- Four proteins indicated high emotional distress risk, and 15 proteins correlated with wound re-epithelialization time.
Conclusions:
- This pilot study demonstrates the utility of saliva for pediatric biomarker discovery in burn injuries.
- Saliva serves as a viable diagnostic and prognostic sample for evaluating systemic changes in pediatric burn patients.
Abstract:
Saliva is a child appropriate biofluid, but it has not previously been used to evaluate the systemic response to burn injury in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the salivary proteome of children with small area thermal skin burns relative to different burn characteristics (mechanism, time to re-epithelialization and risk of emotional distress). SWATH Mass Spectrometry was used to quantify the abundance of 742 proteins in the saliva of children with burns (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 37). Eight proteins were differentially abundant in the saliva of children with burns compared to healthy children, and these were associated with immune processes, epidermal cell differentiation and transferrin receptor binding. Eleven proteins were differentially abundant in patients with burns of different mechanisms. Scald burns had an over-representation of immune/inflammatory response processes, and contact burns had an over-representation of cornification, intermediate filament assembly and cell death cellular processes. Four proteins were elevated in patients who were at high risk for emotional distress and 15 proteins were correlated with time to wound re-epithelialization. This pilot study proves that saliva can be used for paediatric biomarker discovery and can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic sample to investigate systemic changes in a paediatric burn cohort.
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