Proteomics in biomarker detection and monitoring of pancreas disease (PD) in atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Abstract

The species of Salmonid Alphavirus (SAV) consists of six closely related subtypes and belongs to the genus Alphavirus within the family Togaviridae (McLouglin and Graham, 2007). SAV’s are the aetiological agent of pancreas disease (PD) and sleeping disease (SD) of farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. These diseases cause significant loss to aquaculture production in Europe. PD is characterized by lethargy and other behavioural modifications, sequential acute necrosis of the pancreatic acinar cells, cardiomyopathy, and skeletal muscle fibrosis and degeneration. Since the characterisation of PD a number of diagnostic tools have been developed such as; histopathology, RT-PCR SAV detection, and pathogen-specific antibody detection. However, little focus has been placed on investigating the processes involved in the return to homeostasis from SAV infection/ PD and how biological indicators of disease could be used as non-destructive tools for its identification and monitoring of disease progress. Therefore, this study investigates the modification of the serum proteome profile caused by PD, using SAV3 as the aetiological agent, in order to identify serum biomarkers of PD.