Proteomic changes in serum of patients with Erythema migrans, Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection and co-infection

• Published in: Microbial pathogenesis Vol. 200; p. 107337
• Main Authors: Gęgotek, Agnieszka, Moniuszko-Malinowska, Anna, Kruszewska, Ewelina, Skrzydlewska, Elżbieta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2025
• Subjects: 15d-PGJ2-Albumin adducts; Adult; Aged; albumins; Anaplasma phagocytophilum; anaplasmosis; Anaplasmosis - blood; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; antibiotics; biomarkers; blood serum; Borrelia burgdorferi; Chromatography, Liquid; Co-infection; Coinfection - blood; Coinfection - drug therapy; Coinfection - microbiology; Ehrlichiosis - blood; Ehrlichiosis - drug therapy; Ehrlichiosis - microbiology; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; erythema; Erythema Chronicum Migrans - blood; Erythema Chronicum Migrans - drug therapy; Erythema migrans; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; mixed infection; pathogenesis; protein content; protein synthesis; proteome; Proteome - analysis; Proteomics; Serum proteomics; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; therapeutics; Tick-borne diseases; Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Serum proteomics; Co-infection; Erythema migrans; 15d-PGJ2-Albumin adducts; Tick-borne diseases
• ISSN: 0882-4010; 1096-1208; 1096-1208
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107337

According to the worldwide growing number of examined tick-borne diseases, the aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in proteomic profile of human serum induced by the development of Erythema migrans (EM), human granulocytic anaplasmosis (AP) and co-infection before/after antibiotic therapy. A proteomics approach based on SDS-PAGE/LC-MS/MS analysis was used to determine the proteins expression and 15d-PGE2 adducts level with albumin isolated from the serum of patients and sex/age-matched healthy donors. In the serum proteome of the patients with EM or/and AP, significant changes occurred in the expression of the same top 15 modified proteins; however, each protein level was modified in the different way in terms of comparing B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum infections, as well as before and after therapy. In the case of co-infection, the differences in protein expression before and after therapy were significantly lower than in the monoinfection. Moreover, both EM and AP infections/co-infection significantly increased the albumin ability to create adducts with 15d-PGE2. The therapy partially reversed this property only in the case of a single infection, but this effect was not observed for therapy of co-infections. The results demonstrate how challenging is the treatment of the tick-borne co-infections and how important is further analysis of this subject. Individual differences are also observed in each of examined in this study diseases, which makes it more difficult to develop a common biomarker for each of the tick-borne diseases. •Proteins are modified differently in B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum infection.•Protein expression changes more after therapy in co-infection than monoinfection.•EM and AP infections significantly increase the albumin-15d-PGE2 adducts creation.