Research on proteins in tongue coating in patients with chronic renal failure and chronic gastritis based on SELDI-TOF-MS technique

Objective: To investigate the protein markers in tongue coatings in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and chronic gastritis (CG) based on SELDI-TOF-MS technique. Methods: The tongue coatings were taken from 56 patients with CRF, 50 patients with CG and 38 healthy people. Then the coatings were investigated by proteomic techniques with NP20 gene chip. Results: (1) In the CRF group, CG group and control group, 69 different protein peaks were identified in the protein map (P<;60;10-3). (2) The decision tree models for greasy tongue coating in CRF and CG were constructed after bioinformatic analysis to significantly differentiate between CRF and CG. (3) In the CRF group, CG group and control group, the different protein peaks in tongue coatings was identified to probably be 10 proteins with reference to SwissProt database. Conclusion: This research provided objective basis for the clinical differentiation between chronic renal failure and chronic gastritis.