Bioinformatics characterization of differential proteins in serum of mothers carrying Down syndrome fetuses: combining bioinformatics and ELISA.

INTRODUCTION: Characterization of novel proteins in maternal serum derived from mothers carrying Down syndrome (DS) fetuses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Based on last comparative proteomic analysis, five significant differences of expressed proteins in serum from four groups have been confirmed by ELISA. DAVID and GeneGo MetaCore were used to bioinformatically analyze candidate protein markers. RESULTS: The serum levels of ceruloplasmin (CP) and complement factor B (CFB) were significantly increased in mother carried DS fetuses (346.5 ng/ml and 466.8 ng/ml vs. 248.6 ng/ml and 293.5 ng/ml, p< 0.05). Twenty-nine proteins were mainly categorized into binding, catalytic activity and enzyme regulator activity proteins, and their biological roles were involved in biological regulation, metabolic processes, cellular processes, and response to stimuli. The immune response alternative complement pathway was the most significant GeneGo Pathway related to DS. CONCLUSIONS: These 29 proteins have relations with the development of Down syndrome, especially CP and CFB play more important roles.