Potential biomarkers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with sporadic Ménière's disease based on proteomics.

Background: Ménière's disease (MD) mainly refers to the endolymphatic hydrops in membranous labyrinth of the inner ear. Application of the mass spectrometry-based proteomics techniques has not been applied in the field of MD.

Objectives: To search for potential differential proteins to identify the disease biomarkers and reveal disease bioinformatics-related mechanisms through applying protein technology to analyze the expression changes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in sporadic MD patients.

Material And Methods: 15 MD patients and 15 healthy individuals were enrolled. PBMCs from them were extracted, and their protein expression was identified and compared by LC-MS/MS and spectra analysis.

Results: There was significant difference in protein expression between MD patients and the control group. GO and KEGG analysis showed that endocytosis was involved in MD patients. Western blot results of CHMP1A and MMP9 protein showed that the expression of CHMP1A was higher in the MD group than that in the control group, while MMP9 was down-regulated. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that CHMP1A and MMP9 were expressed in the endolymphatic sacs of MD patients and in the inner ear of adult mice.

Conclusions And Significance: Endocytosis may be involved in the pathogenesis of sporadic MD, furthermore CHMP1A, VPS4A, FCN3 and MMP9 could be considered as potential biomarkers.