Comparative proteomic analysis of lung tissue from guinea pigs with leptospiral pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome (LPHS) reveals a decrease in abundance of host proteins involved in cytoskeletal and cellular organization

Authors

S. Schuller, K. Sergeant, J. Renaut, J. J. Callanan, C. Scaife, and J. E. Nally

Reference

Journal of Proteomics, vol. 122, pp. 55-72, 2015

Description

Leptospiral pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome (LPHS) is a particularly severe form of leptospirosis. LPHS is increasingly recognized in both humans and animals and is characterized by rapidly progressive intra-alveolar haemorrhage leading to high mortality. The pathogenic mechanisms of LPHS are poorly understood which hampers the application of effective treatment regimes. In this study a 2-D guinea pig proteome lung map was created and used to investigate the pathogenic mechanisms of LPHS. Comparison of lung proteomes from infected and non-infected guinea pigs via differential in-gel electrophoresis revealed highly significant differences in abundance of proteins contained in 130 spots. Acute phase proteins were the largest functional group amongst proteins with increased abundance in LPHS lung tissue, and likely reflect a local and/or systemic host response to infection. The observed decrease in abundance of proteins involved in cytoskeletal and cellular organization in LPHS lung tissue further suggests that infection with pathogenic Leptospira induces changes in the abundance of host proteins involved in cellular architecture and adhesion contributing to the dramatically increased alveolar septal wall permeability seen in LPHS.

Link

doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2015.03.021