Identifying potential tear biomarkers in premature infants with retinopathy of prematurity based on proteome and transcriptome analysis.

AIM

To identify the potential tear fluid biomarkers in premature infants with and without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) based on proteomic and transcriptomic analysis.

METHODS

Tears were collected from the 46 eyes of the 23 enrolled premature infants, with and without ROP. Data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry was utilized for the quantitative proteomic analysis of the two groups. Two published transcriptome datasets involving mouse oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model data were selected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. iDEP (integrated Differential Expression and Pathway analysis) were used for differential expression analysis. Gene Ontology (GO)-based functional and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed.

RESULTS

In this study, a total of 1742 proteins were quantified from the two groups. 55 differentially expressed proteins closely related to immune and angiogenesis processes were identified, including 33 highly expressed as well as 22 lowly expressed in the ROP group. Combined with RNA-seq data from OIR model, we screened two particularly critical proteins, LYN and filamin A (FLNA), which were both expressed at significantly elevated levels.

CONCLUSIONS

According to the findings of the tear proteomics data, we hypothesized two particularly critical proteins, LYN and FLNA, may serve as pivotal regulators of immune and angiogenesis processes in ROP. These results will assist in the provision of new potential targets for the diagnosis of ROP.