Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever

Background: To provide clues and a diagnostic basis for patients with fever of unknown origin through urinary proteomics analysis. Methods: For the first time, an attempt was made to conduct a full-library search for viruses in urine samples. Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)...

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Main Authors: Minhui Yang, Yan Su, Chenyang Zhao, Youhe Gao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Biology
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/14/4/318
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author Minhui Yang
Yan Su
Chenyang Zhao
Youhe Gao
author_facet Minhui Yang
Yan Su
Chenyang Zhao
Youhe Gao
author_sort Minhui Yang
collection DOAJ
description Background: To provide clues and a diagnostic basis for patients with fever of unknown origin through urinary proteomics analysis. Methods: For the first time, an attempt was made to conduct a full-library search for viruses in urine samples. Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) technology was employed to analyze the urinary proteomes of patients with fever of unknown origin, and to search for and identify viral protein fragments. In this study, there is no need to pre-determine the types of substances present in the samples. As long as the relevant sequences of viruses are available in the database, virus searches can be performed on the samples. Results: In the urine samples, multiple specific peptides from various viruses, such as the monkeypox virus, salivirus A, human herpesvirus 8 type P, Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus, rotavirus A, Orf virus (strain NZ2), human herpesvirus 2 (strain HG52), human adenovirus E serotype 4, influenza A virus, human coronavirus NL63, parainfluenza virus 5 (strain W3), Nipah virus, and hepatitis C virus genotype 2k (isolate VAT96), could be observed. It was found that the detection amounts of multiple viruses in febrile patients were much higher than those in the control group. Among them, the increase multiple of salivirus A was as high as more than 4200 times, and the increase multiples of multiple viral proteins were higher than 20 times. Conclusions: Viral fragments in urinary proteins can be reliably identified using mass spectrometry, which provides clues for the investigation of unexplained fever and may also be applied to the exploration of any unknown diseases.
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spelling doaj-art-a050ebd8dcf74c768176464aac0c6d832025-08-20T02:17:14ZengMDPI AGBiology2079-77372025-03-0114431810.3390/biology14040318Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of FeverMinhui Yang0Yan Su1Chenyang Zhao2Youhe Gao3Gene Engineering Drug and Biotechnology Beijing Key Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaGene Engineering Drug and Biotechnology Beijing Key Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaGene Engineering Drug and Biotechnology Beijing Key Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaGene Engineering Drug and Biotechnology Beijing Key Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaBackground: To provide clues and a diagnostic basis for patients with fever of unknown origin through urinary proteomics analysis. Methods: For the first time, an attempt was made to conduct a full-library search for viruses in urine samples. Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) technology was employed to analyze the urinary proteomes of patients with fever of unknown origin, and to search for and identify viral protein fragments. In this study, there is no need to pre-determine the types of substances present in the samples. As long as the relevant sequences of viruses are available in the database, virus searches can be performed on the samples. Results: In the urine samples, multiple specific peptides from various viruses, such as the monkeypox virus, salivirus A, human herpesvirus 8 type P, Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus, rotavirus A, Orf virus (strain NZ2), human herpesvirus 2 (strain HG52), human adenovirus E serotype 4, influenza A virus, human coronavirus NL63, parainfluenza virus 5 (strain W3), Nipah virus, and hepatitis C virus genotype 2k (isolate VAT96), could be observed. It was found that the detection amounts of multiple viruses in febrile patients were much higher than those in the control group. Among them, the increase multiple of salivirus A was as high as more than 4200 times, and the increase multiples of multiple viral proteins were higher than 20 times. Conclusions: Viral fragments in urinary proteins can be reliably identified using mass spectrometry, which provides clues for the investigation of unexplained fever and may also be applied to the exploration of any unknown diseases.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/14/4/318viral fragments in urineproteomicsLC-MS/MSfever of unknown origin
spellingShingle Minhui Yang
Yan Su
Chenyang Zhao
Youhe Gao
Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
Biology
viral fragments in urine
proteomics
LC-MS/MS
fever of unknown origin
title Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
title_full Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
title_fullStr Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
title_full_unstemmed Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
title_short Viral Fragments in the Urine Proteome: New Clues to the Cause of Fever
title_sort viral fragments in the urine proteome new clues to the cause of fever
topic viral fragments in urine
proteomics
LC-MS/MS
fever of unknown origin
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/14/4/318
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