Quantitative proteomics analysis of COVID-19 patients: Fetuin-A and tetranectin as potential modulators of innate immune responses

Bandar Alghanem; Fatmah A Mansour; Hayat Shaibah; Khawlah Almuhalhil; Feras Almourfi; Hassan S Alamri; Hala Alajmi; Mamoon Rashid; Fayhan Alroqi; Maroua Jalouli; Abdel Halim Harrath; Mohammad Boudjellal; Tlili Barhoumi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15224

Quantitative proteomics analysis of COVID-19 patients: Fetuin-A and tetranectin as potential modulators of innate immune responses

Heliyon. 2023 Apr;9(4):e15224. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15224. Epub 2023 Apr 9.

Authors

Bandar Alghanem^{1

2}, Fatmah A Mansour^{1

2}, Hayat Shaibah^{1

2}, Khawlah Almuhalhil^{1

2}, Feras Almourfi^{1

2}, Hassan S Alamri², Hala Alajmi³, Mamoon Rashid², Fayhan Alroqi^{4

2}, Maroua Jalouli⁵, Abdel Halim Harrath⁶, Mohammad Boudjellal^{1

2}, Tlili Barhoumi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Research Core Facility and Platforms, King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Saudi Biobank, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11623, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ King Saud University, Department of Zoology, College of Sciences, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Treatment of severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is extremely important to minimize death and end-organ damage. Here we performed a proteomic analysis of plasma samples from mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 patients. Analysis revealed differentially expressed proteins and different therapeutic potential targets related to innate immune responses such as fetuin-A, tetranectin (TN) and paraoxonase-1 (PON1). Furthermore, protein changes in plasma showed dysregulation of complement and coagulation cascades in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls. In conclusion, our proteomics data suggested fetuin-A and TN as potential targets that might be used for diagnosis as well as signatures for a better understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19 disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; Fetuin-A; Innate immunity; Mass spectrometry; Proteomics; Tetranectin.