Revealing Protein Profiles and Pathways in Elderly Trauma Patients Based on Plasma Proteomics

Owing to age-related physiological decline, comorbidities, polypharmacy, and frailty, protein profiles and pathways of geriatric trauma patients differ substantially from those of young adult trauma patients. Therefore, understanding the protein pathways underlying geriatric trauma is essential for delivering targeted interventions to this population. This study seeks to identify pathways specific to geriatric trauma using plasma proteomics.

Proteomics data from 20 elderly trauma (ET) patients, 34 young/middle-aged trauma (YMAT) patients, 7 elderly controls (ECs), and 33 young/middle-aged controls (YMACs) were retrospectively analyzed.

Through gene ontology enrichment analysis of differentially expressed proteins in the ET versus EC group, 51 significant pathways (SPs) were identified. Similarly, 97 SPs were identified in both the YMAT and YMAC groups. A comparison of the EC and YMAC groups yielded 10 age-related SPs. The ET and YMAT groups had 70 SPs. After excluding patients with hypertension or diabetes, 87 SPs were enriched in ET versus YMAT groups. Through four-step hierarchical screening via Venn diagram analysis, "response to reactive oxygen species" and "lipid localization" were systematically isolated as pathways specific to geriatric trauma.

This study revealed distinct protein profiles in ET patients compared with YMAT patients, with response to reactive oxygen species and lipid localization identified as pathways specific to geriatric trauma. Although, the findings are exploratory, understanding these may provide insights and clues for future multicenter studies and animal experiments to explore the characteristic pathophysiological changes of geriatric trauma.