Flat Feet Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Flat Feet, including details on flatfoot, fallen arches, children, treatment, arthrodesis.

Identification of disease-associated proteins by proteomic approach in ankylosing spondylitis.

Liu J, Zhu P, Peng J, Li K, Du J, Gu J, Ou Y

Center of Medical Genetics, Department of Hematology, Peking University First Hospital, Peking University, No. 8, Xishiku Street, West District, Beijing 100034, China.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder of the axial skeleton and shows significant inherited susceptibility. Auto-immune responses have been traditionally considered as a putative pathogenetic event in AS. However, no consistent self-antigen has been identified to responsible for the disorders in AS to this day. In this study, serum protein profiles of AS patients and healthy controls from a large Chinese AS family were investigated by two dimensional electrophoresis analysis. A group of four highly expressed protein spots was observed in all AS patients' profiles and subsequently identified as isoforms of haptoglobin precursor (pre-Hp) by ESI-Q-TOF MS/MS. Increased expression of haptoglobin precursor were also observed in sera of sporadic AS patients. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis revealed epitopes derived from haptoglobin precursor with high affinity binding to HLA-B( *)2705, a primary subtype associated with AS. These results indicate that pre-Hp may be involved in the pathogenesis of AS.

Published 25 April 2007 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 357(2): 531-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Flat Feet Research Today. All Rights Reserved.