RESEARCH ARTICLE Higher Serum Angiotensinogen Is an Indicator of IgA Vasculitis with Nephritis Revealed by Comparative Proteomes Analysis

IgA vasculitis (IgAV), previously named as Henoch–Schönlein purpura, is the most common systematic vasculitis with unknown etiology. Lack of appropriate study system and/or ani-mal model limits the understanding of its molecular pathogenesis and hinders the identifica-tion of targets for rational therapy, especially for its long-term complication, IgAV nephritis (IgAVN). In this study, we applied comparative analysis of serum proteomes to obtain an insight about disease pathogenesis. This study has utilized high sensitivity nanoscale ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) to investigate the alterations in serum proteomic profiles in patients with IgAV (n=6), IgAVN (n=6) and healthy subjects (n=7). The differentially expressed proteins were subjected to functional pathway analysis by PANTHER and DAVID software. We identified 107 differentially expressed proteins among three different groups, and functional analysis suggested that, in addition to earlier reported pathways, such as acute phase response, immune response, complement and blood coagulation pathways, hemostasis and Wnt signaling pathway were probably involved in pathogenesis of IgAV. A few differentially abundant proteins identified