An exploratory study examining how nano-liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and phosphoproteomics can differentiate patients with advanced fibrosis and higher percentage collagen in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Table 3 Correlations of LC-MS serum proteomes with advanced fibrosis and a higher percentage of collagen deposition in liver

LC–MS Proteomes	Mean of protein intensity
LC–MS Proteomes	Fibrosis ≥ 2 (n)^a,b	Fibrosis < 2 (n)^a,b,c	Percentage collagen ρ^c,d
Protein alpha-1-microglobulin/bikunin preproprotein	0.170 ± 0.101	0.233 ± 0.091**	−0.25*
Alpha-2-macroglobulin	0.144 ± 0.144	0.060 ± 0.087**	0.32*
Apolipoprotein E isoform a	0.320 ± 0.184	0.426 ± 0.219**	−0.24
Transthyretin precursor	0.084 ± 0.056	0.053 ± 0.032**	0.26*
Vitamin K-dependent protein S preproprotein	0.057 ± 0.044	0.031 ± 0.030*	−0.06
Selenoprotein P isoform 2	0.013 ± 0.019	0.030 ± 0.044*	−0.19
Carboxypeptidase B2 isoform 2 preproprotein	0.025 ± 0.030	0.045 ± 0.042*	−0.24
Apolipoprotein C-II	0.115 ± 0.038	0.156 ± 0.093*	−0.19
Histidine-rich glycoprotein isoform X1	0.497 ± 0.252	0.619 ± 0.230*	−0.31*
Apolipoprotein B-100 isoform X1	0.250 ± 0.606	0.039 ± 0.073*	0.23
Apolipoprotein A-I preproprotein	0.753 ± 0.372	0.582 ± 0.222*	0.16
Inter-alpha trypsin inhib. hvy. ch.H4 isoform 2	0.045 ± 0.040	0.027 ± 0.030*	0.05
Coagulation factor V	0.048 ± 0.053	0.046 ±0.053	−0.36**
Alpha-1-antitrypsin	0.193 ± 0.192	0.121 ± 0.051*	0.34**
Platelet basic protein preproprotein	0.081 ± 0.053	0.100 ± 0.044	−0.33**
Vitamin D-binding protein isoform 3	0.052 ± 0.064	0.028 ± 0.037	0.28*
C4b-binding protein alpha chain	0.107 ± 0.084	0.102 ± 0.086	−0.27*
Complement C4-A isoform 1 preproprotein	0.589 ± 0.269	0.605 ± 0.212	− 0.26*
Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 1 precursor	0.090 ± 0.062	0.065 ± 0.041	0.25*

^a Proteins as detected by LC–MS that were expressed at higher and significant level in patients with fibrosis ≥ 2 compared with fibrosis < 2
^b Non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to identify the significantly differentially expressed proteins between the two groups
^c Protein level correlation with % collagen tested using Spearman rank correlation test and the
^d Correlation coefficient (ρ) describes the strength and direction of association between proteins and % collagen
p values < 0.05 are considered significant; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01

ISSN: 1741-7015