Comparison of the ventricle muscle proteome between patients with rheumatic heart disease and controls with mitral valve prolapse: HSP 60 may be a specific protein in RHD.

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a serious autoimmune heart disease. The present study was aimed at identifying the differentially expressed proteins between patients with RHD and controls with mitral valve prolapse. METHODS: Nine patients with RHD and nine controls with mitral valve prolapsed were enrolled for this study. Two-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) were performed. RESULTS: A total of 39 protein spots with differential expressions were identified between the two groups (P < 0.05, Average Ratio > 1.2 or Average Ratio < -1.2) and four upregulated proteins (including heat shock protein 60 (HSP 60), desmin, PDZ and LIM domain protein 1, and proteasome subunit alpha type-1) and three downregulated proteins (including tropomyosin alpha-1 chain, malate dehydrogenase, and chaperone activity of bc1 complex homolog) were determined. CONCLUSION: These seven proteins, especially HSP 60, may serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of RHD and provide evidence to explain the mechanisms of this complex disease in the future.