Fig 1.
Mass spectrometry flowchart.
Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of the patients recruited.
Fig 2.
Plasma samples from AMI and non-AMI patients were collected for exosome isolation. LC-MS/MS-based proteomics was performed to characterize exosomal protein profiles and identify differentially expressed proteins between groups.
Fig 3.
Characterization of plasma-derived exosomes.
(A, B) Transmission electron microscope images of purified exosomes isolated from non-AMI and AMI patients. Scale bars: 100 nm. (C) Size distribution of plasma exosomes by nanoparticle tracking analysis. (D) Expression of exosomal markers (CD9, CD63, TSG101) was analyzed by western blot. AMI, acute myocardial infarction; TSG101, tumor susceptibility 101.
Table 2.
Information of identified DEPs.
Fig 4.
Proteomic analysis of plasma-derived exosomes.
(A) Venn diagram of proteins detected in AMI and non-AMI groups. (B) Subcellular localization of DEPs.
Fig 5.
Identification of DEPs analysis.
(A) Volcano plot of DEPs. Downregulated proteins (light blue); upregulated proteins (red); non-significant proteins (gray). (B) Hierarchical clustering of DEPs. Red: upregulated proteins; blue: downregulated proteins; white: missing quantitative data.
Fig 6.
(A) Bubble plot of significantly enriched GO terms and KEGG pathways. The gene ratio represents the proportion of DEPs mapped to a specific term. Bubble size corresponds to the number of enriched genes (Count), and color intensity indicates the statistical significance (-log10 (adjusted P-value)). (B) Bar plot displaying the top significantly enriched terms ranked by their statistical significance (-log10 (adjusted P-value)). (C) Network visualization showed the interrelationships among the top enriched GO terms and KEGG pathways. Nodes represent functional terms, and edges connect closely related terms, highlighting core biological themes.
Fig 7.
Experimental validation of candidate DEPs.
(A) Western blot analysis of ITIH4, VTN, and HRG. (B) Quantification of protein expression. (C) ROC curve analysis of ITIH4. (D) Scatter plot of the correlation between plasma exosomal ITIH4 and cTnI. ***P < 0.001.