In-depth 15 H7N9 Human Serum Proteomics Profiling Study

BackgroundHuman infection by avian influenza viruses is characterized by rapid development of acute respiratory distress and severe pneumonia. However, the underlying host response leading to this severe outcome is not well studied. MethodsWe conducted mass spectrometry-based serum proteome profiling on 10 healthy controls and 15 H7N9 infected cases with two time points and carried out statistical and biology functional enrichment analysis. ResultsIn total, we identified 647 proteins, 273 proteins were only found in H7N9 infected cases which might generate from cell leakage/death (apoptosis and/or necrosis) and identified 50 proteins with statistically significant difference between healthy control and H7N9 infected cases from 168 qualified proteins. We also found that M1 and PB2 tightly associated with the hosts HSPA8 (P11142, p=0.0042) which plays an important role in the protein quality control system. ConclusionsH7N9 infection may increase cell programmed/unprogrammed cell death, and we suggested that upregulated extracellular HSPA8 may suppress the H7N9 virion replication via activation amyloid-beta binding network.