There are increasing concerns about labelling obstructive airway diseases because the traditional clinical entities of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD) and bronchitis have overlapping clinical features and symptoms. The current diagnosis of obstructive airway diseases based on lung function tests, however, is not always definitive to diagnose the overlapping conditions, resulting in inappropriate treatment. Early identification and differentiation of phenotypes of obstructive airway diseases is significant for targeted treatment. This study aims to identify plasma protein biomarkers in individuals with obstructive airway diseases, stratified according to different clinical variables in a general population.
Plasma samples from participants in Busselton Health Study were assessed by a traditional proteomics platform to identify biomarkers of obstructive airway diseases. A triplicate iTRAQ 2D-LCMS experiment was performed for initial candidate biomarker selection with a total of 90 proteins identified as biomarkers for obstructive airway diseases. Particularly, proteins were identified as biomarkers for individuals with non-atopy, or atopy with high exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), or with bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR). These candidate biomarkers for obstructive airway diseases will be further validated by targeted mass spectrometry assays to characterise obstructive airway diseases in general as well as the underlying phenotypes. The validation of these biomarkers will be used to develop a simple test tool, which will assist in the early diagnosis and precise treatment for obstructive airway diseases.