Search for biomarkers related to rhinitis and different asthma phenotypes by serum proteomics and immunoassays

Abstract

sthma is a heterogeneous disease with several clinical phenotypes and molecular endotypes. However, the specific connection between asthma phenotypes and the underlying pathological features is difficult to explain. Thus, the overall aim of this thesis was to search for biomarkers associated with rhinitis and different phenotypes (allergic and non-allergic) and severities (intermittent-mild and moderate-severe) of asthma. To achieve this aim, we studied the role of the immune system through the analysis of certain biomarkers previously related to this disease: CD14 (innate immune system) and CD26/CD126 (adaptive immune system). In addition, in the second part of the present thesis, a prospective, non-target proteomic study aimed to identify new biomarkers associated with different phenotypes of this disease was also performed. This study consisted of the analysis of low abundance serum proteome through iTRAQ-LC-MS/MS and allowed us the identification of several potential biomarkers for allergic (e.g., IGFALS, protein AMBP, or HSPG2) and non-allergic asthma (e.g., CFI), as well as disease severity (e.g., IGFALS).