Serum Proteome in a Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Geographical Cluster

Abstract

This study is meant to characterize the serum proteome in a small geographical cluster of sporadic ALS subjects originating from a restricted geographical area and sharing the same environmental exposure, in a broader context of evaluating the relevance of environmental factors to disease onset, status, and progression. An Artificial Neural Network based software is used to compare the relative abundance of proteins identified as different (by means of bi-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry) in the serum proteome of patients and age-matched healthy controls. The patient's group is characterized by altered levels of acute phase reactants and of proteins involved in lipid homeostasis, along with over-representation of the APOE*4 allele. Characterization of the serum proteome in a small cluster of sporadic ALS patients, originating from a geographically restricted area with a high prevalence of the disease and evaluation of the results with software based on artificial neural networks, highlights the association of the relative abundance of some proteins (most notably, acute phase reactants and lipid homeostasis proteins) with the disease presence and status.

Keywords: Artificial neural network; Geographical cluster; Serum proteomics; Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.