Plasma proteome profiling using tandem mass tag labeling technology reveals potential biomarkers for Parkinson's disease: a preliminary study.

PURPOSE: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequently occurring progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Biomarkers are useful indicators for tracking disease progression, early diagnosis, and intervention of disease progression. We aimed to develop plasma biomarker panel which maybe aid to predict the onset and progression of PD. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Tandem mass tag (TMT) mass spectrometry was applied using an Orbitrap Lumos mass spectrometer to analyze plasma protein expression in patients diagnosed with PD and healthy controls. RESULTS: In total, 555 proteins were quantified. Using a cut-off of p < 0.05 and a fold change of >1.2 for the variation in expression, 25 proteins were differentially expressed between the PD and control groups. Sixteen proteins were upregulated and nine were downregulated. Several proteins, including Chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1) and thymosin beta-4 (TMSB4X) were implicated in PD pathogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: The data from the TMT-based proteomic profiling of plasma samples in PD may help advance the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of PD and identify potential novel biomarkers of PD for further characterization.