Proteomic analysis reveals plasma haptoglobin, interferon-γ, and interleukin-1β as potential biomarkers of pediatric refractory epilepsy

Children with refractory epilepsy (RE) are associated with increased mortality rate, nonfatal injuries, disability, and diminished quality of life. Biomarkers for the early prediction of RE is still an unmet need. Eighteen children with RE and six age-matched unrelated controls were included in this study. Plasma samples were prefractionated by the optimized thermal treatment before proteomic analysis using 2DE-LC-MS/MS. Bioinformatic analysis was carried out using STRING protein network. Immunoassay of unprocessed plasma was applied to confirm changes of proteins of interest. P-value