Serum Biomarkers in Atlantic Salmon for Differential Diagnosis of Cardiomyopathy Syndrome and Pancreas Disease: Proteomic Identification of Serum Fibrinogen to Enhance Troponin Immunoassay as Optimal Diagnostic Approach

Cardiac viral diseases are among the major causes of economic losses in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture. These include cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) caused by piscine myocarditis virus (PMCV) and pancreas disease (PD) caused by Atlantic salmonid alphavirus (SAV). The resulting cardiomyopathies impact fish stock in terms of mortality, quality, growth performance and economic loss. Diagnosis of these diseases is currently based on clinical signs, histopathology and RT-qPCR. To identify putative biomarkers for use in the health assessment of Atlantic salmon, a quantitative proteomics investigation was undertaken with the aim of differentiating fish with CMS from healthy fish and fish with PD. Serum samples (n = 9/group) were collected during health assessment from pens where clinical CMS or PD were present and compared to serum from healthy Atlantic salmon. There were 34 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in CMS compared to healthy, 66 comparing CMS to PD, and 81 comparing PD to healthy. In relation to healthy samples, most DAPs were shared between CMS and PD, with higher relative abundances observed in PD. An exception to this was serum fibrinogen, which was identified as a putative biomarker for CMS, whereas differentiation of Atlantic salmon with CMS from those with PD was enhanced by the calculation of the ratio of fibrinogen to skeletal troponin C.