A Proteomic Approach Identifies Candidate Early Biomarkers to Predict Severe Dengue in Children

BackgroundSevere dengue with severe plasma leakage (SD-SPL) is the most frequent of dengue severe form. Plasma biomarkers for early predictive diagnosis of SD-SPL are required in the primary clinics for the prevention of dengue death.MethodologyAmong 63 confirmed dengue pediatric patients recruited, hospital based longitudinal study detected six SD-SPL and ten dengue with warning sign (DWS). To identify the specific proteins increased or decreased in the SD-SPL plasma obtained 6–48 hours before the shock compared with the DWS, the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technology was performed using four patients each group. Validation was undertaken in 6 SD-SPL and 10 DWS patients.Principal findingsNineteen plasma proteins exhibited significantly different relative concentrations (pConclusionProteins identified here may serve as candidate predictive markers to diagnose SD-SPL for timely clinical management. Since the number of subjects are small, so further studies are needed to confirm all these biomarkers.