Extracellular matrix protein signature of recurrent spontaneous cervical artery dissection

Objective To assess whether connective tissue disorder is evident in
patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissection and therefore
identify patients at risk of recurrence using a cutting-edge quantitative
proteomics approach. Methods In the ReSect-study all patients with
spontaneous cervical artery dissection treated at the Innsbruck University
Hospital since 1996 were invited to attend a standardized clinical
follow-up examination. Protein abundance in skin punch biopsies (n=50) was
evaluated by a cutting-edge quantitative proteomics approach (liquid
chromatography-mass spectrometry) which has hitherto not been applied to
such patients. Results Patients with one-time single-vessel (n=19) or
–multiple-vessel (n=13) dissections did not differ between each other or
compared to healthy controls (n=12) in protein composition. Patients with
recurrent spontaneous cervical artery dissection (n=6) however, showed
significantly different expression of 25 proteins compared to the other
groups combined. Literature review and gene ontology term annotation check
revealed that 13 of the differently expressed proteins play a major role
in the structural integrity of connective tissue or are linked to
connective tissue disorders. These proteins showed clustering to a
collagen/elastin cluster and one consisting of desmosome related proteins.
Conclusion This study unravels an extracellular matrix protein signature
of recurrent spontaneous cervical artery dissection. On a long run and
dependent on large-scale validation, our findings may well assist in
identifying patients at risk of recurrent spontaneous cervical artery
dissection and thus guide therapy.