Dr Tuo Zang¹, Kiana  Heath¹, Joseph  Etican¹, Dr Lan Chen², Donna  Langley¹, Professor Andrew  Holland³, Dr Lisa  Martin⁴, Dr Mark Fear⁴, Associate Professor Tony Parker⁵, Professor Roy Kimble⁶, Professor Fiona Wood^4,7, Associate Professor Leila Cuttle¹

¹Queensland Universuty of Technology (QUT), School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Centre for Children’s Health Research , South Brisbane, Australia, ²Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Central Analytical Research Facility, Brisbane, Australia, ³The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Burns Unit, Kids Research Institute, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Westmead, Australia, ⁴Burn Injury Research Unit, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, ⁵Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Kelvin Grove, Australia, ⁶Children’s Health Queensland, Queensland Children’s Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia, ⁷Burns Service of Western Australia, Perth Children’s Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Australia

Abstract:

In this study, paired blood plasma (BP) and blister fluid (BF) samples from 5 paediatric burn patients were analysed using mass spectrometry to compare their protein and metabolite composition. The relative quantification of proteins was achieved through a label-free data independent acquisition mode. The relative quantification of metabolites was achieved through a Shimadzu Smart Metabolite Database gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) targeted assay. In total, 562 proteins and 141 individual metabolites were identified in the samples. There was 81% similarity in the proteins present in the BP and BF, with 50 and 54 unique proteins found in each sample type respectively. BF contained keratinocyte proliferation-related proteins and blood plasma contained abundant blood clotting proteins and apolipoproteins. BF contained more carbohydrates and less alpha-hydroxy acid metabolites than the BP. In this study, there were unique proteins and metabolites in BF and BP which were reflective of the local wound environment and systemic environments respectively. The results from this study demonstrate that the biomolecule content of BF is mostly the same as blood, but it also contains unique information from the local wound environment.

Biography:

Dr Tuo Zang is a post-doc who completed his PhD in 2018. He has expertise with clinical sample handling, protein extraction and fractionation, mass spectrometry-based omics analysis, NMR based metabolomics analysis, computational biology, and bioinformatics. He has led several projects identifying biomarkers and cellular mechanisms involved in tissue injury.