iTRAQ-based quantitative protein expression profiling of biomarkers in childhood B-cell and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Purpose: This study screened serum proteins to identify potential biomarkers for childhood B-cell and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Patients and methods: Serum collected from 20 newly diagnosed B-cell ALL, 20 T-cell ALL and 20 healthy children. The peptides from these samples were subjected to iTRAQ. Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were further validated by ELISA in 24 B-ALL, 24 T-ALL, and 24 healthy children. Results: Bioinformatics analysis revealed several pathways, including atherosclerosis signaling, interleukin signaling and production in macrophages and clathrin-mediated endocytosis signaling, that were closely related to childhood T-cell ALL. Furthermore, four selected proteins, namely LRG1, S100A8, SPARC and sL-selectin, were verified by ELISA. These results were consistent with the results of the proteomics analysis. Conclusion: Serum S100A8 may serve as new diagnostic biomarkers in childhood B-cell ALL and T-cell ALL.