Serum Proteomic Fingerprints of Adult Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

is an emerging infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV. Specific proteomic pat-terns might be present in serum in response to the infection and could be useful for early detection of the disease. Methods: Using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ion-ization (SELDI) ProteinChip technology, we profiled and compared serum proteins of 39 patients with early-stage SARS infection and 39 non-SARS patients who were suspected cases during the SARS outbreak period. Proteomic patterns associated with SARS were identi-fied by bioinformatic and biostatistical analyses. Fea-tures of interest were then purified and identified by tandem mass spectrometry. Results: Twenty proteomic features were significantl