Proteomic Analyses of Plasma from Patients with Fracture Related Infection Reveals Systemic Activation of the Complement and Coagulation Cascades

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare plasma proteomes of patients with confirmed fracture-related infections (FRIs) matched to noninfected controls using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Design: This was a prospective case-control study.

Setting: The study was conducted at a single, academic, Level 1 trauma center.

Patient selection criteria: Patients meeting confirmatory FRI criteria were matched to controls without infection based on fracture region, age, and time after surgery from June 2019 to January 2022. Tandem mass tag liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of patient plasma samples was performed.

Outcome measures and comparisons: Protein abundance ratios in plasma for patients with FRI compared with those for matched controls without infection were calculated.

Results: Twenty-seven patients meeting confirmatory FRI criteria were matched to 27 controls. Abundance ratios for more than 1000 proteins were measured in the 54 plasma samples. Seventy-three proteins were found to be increased or decreased in patients with FRI compared with those in matched controls (unadjusted t test P < 0.05). Thirty-two of these proteins were found in all 54 patient samples and underwent subsequent principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the large proteomics dataset. A 3-component principal component analysis accounted for 45.7% of the variation in the dataset and had 88.9% specificity for the diagnosis of FRI. STRING protein-protein interaction network analysis of these 3 PCs revealed activation of the complement and coagulation cascades through the Reactome pathway database (false discovery rates <0.05).

Conclusions: Proteomic analyses of plasma from patients with FRI demonstrate systemic activation of the complement and coagulation cascades. Further investigation along these lines may help to better understand the systemic response to FRI and improve diagnostic strategies using proteomics.