
Alexander Hutanu
Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium
Titel der Forschungsarbeit: Quantification of protein levels in blood plasma as a marker for healing progression in clavicula fractures and the influence of external factors
School: School of Medicine and Health
Department: Medizin
Lehrstuhl: Klinik und Poliklinik für Unfallchirurgie
Betreuung: Keine Angabe
Abstract der Forschungsarbeit
Proteins are essential building elements that take part in a variety of complex metabolic processes within cells, including bone cells. Therefore, measuring the blood levels of specific bone-related proteins could provide important knowledge regarding, for example, how quickly bones recover following a fracture. The current study used MAGPIX xMAP technology to precisely measure the proteins linked to bone repair in patient blood plasma. The measured data has undergone thorough statistical analysis. In this work, our primary focus is on identifying the possible influence of external socio-demographic factors on the protein concentration, such as age, sex, smoking habit, and fracture age by blood sampling. The possible relationship between quantities of certain proteins is another interesting aspect. Our main finding is that patient age affects the levels of two proteins: osteoprotegerin and Pro-Collagen-I-alpha-1. Interestingly, the gender of the patient also correlates with these two proteins. Research on the gender-specific regulatory mechanisms of bone regeneration is a new important topic. A closer analysis shows that osteoprotegerin and Pro-Collagen-I-alpha-1 demonstrate no direct connection, although both proteins show independent age- and sex-related correlations. The study results also show that the protein interleukin-6 is dependent on the fracture age. This relationship can be explained by the inflammation that occurs after a fracture. Interestingly, at least in the early stages of the fracture, we could not find any protein that correlated with smoking. This is a surprising finding because some previous research points to the opposite outcome.