iTRAQ‐Based Proteomic Analysis Reveals Protein Profile in Plasma from Children with Autism

Purpose Autism is a childhood neurological disorder with poorly understood etiology and pathology. This study is designed to identify differentially expressed proteins that might serve as potential biomarkers for autism. Experimental design We perform iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) analysis for normal and autistic children's plasma of the same age group. Results The results show that 24 differentially expressed proteins were identified between autistic subjects and controls. For the first time, differential expression of complement C5 (C5) and fermitin family homolog 3 (FERMT3) are related to autism. Five proteins, that is, complement C3 (C3), C5, integrin alpha‐IIb (ITGA2B), talin‐1 (TLN1), and vitamin D‐binding protein (GC) were validated via enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). By ROC (receiver operating characteristic) analysis, combinations of these five proteins C3, C5, GC, ITGA2B, and TLN1 distinguished autistic children from healthy controls with a high AUC (area under the ROC curve) value (0.982, 95% CI, 0.957–1.000, p