An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults

Cody Chou; Shad R. Morton; Kelika A. Konda; Silver Vargas; Michael Reyes-Diaz; Francesca Vasquez; Carlos F. Caceres; Jeffrey D. Klausner; Trey Toombs; Rushdy Ahmad; Lao Tzu Allan-Blitz

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofag498

An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults

Cody Chou
, Shad R. Morton
, Kelika A. Konda
, Silver Vargas
, Michael Reyes-Diaz
, Francesca Vasquez
, Carlos F. Caceres
, Jeffrey D. Klausner
, Trey Toombs
, Rushdy Ahmad
, Lao Tzu Allan-Blitz

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Harvard University
Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Unit of Health
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Department of Medicine and Population and Public Health Sciences
Division of Infectious Diseases
University of California
Division of Global Health Equity
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Syphilis diagnostics struggle to distinguish active from treated disease. Using tandem-mass-tag proteomics on plasma from 10 secondary and early latent syphilis cases and 8 matched controls, we identified 54 differentially regulated proteins categorized under several biological pathways. Those exploratory findings support proteomics as a tool for developing novel syphilis diagnostics.

Original language	English
Article number	ofag498
Journal	Open Forum Infectious Diseases
Volume	13
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofag498
State	Published - Aug 2026

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Treponema pallidum
biomarkers
diagnostic development
proteomics
syphilis

Access to Document

10.1093/ofid/ofag498

Cite this

Chou, C., Morton, S. R., Konda, K. A., Vargas, S., Reyes-Diaz, M., Vasquez, F., Caceres, C. F., Klausner, J. D., Toombs, T., Ahmad, R., & Allan-Blitz, L. T. (2026). An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 13(8), Article ofag498. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofag498

@article{b03aee2270d54ffc9ebf1cd481c6cd6c,

title = "An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults",

abstract = "Syphilis diagnostics struggle to distinguish active from treated disease. Using tandem-mass-tag proteomics on plasma from 10 secondary and early latent syphilis cases and 8 matched controls, we identified 54 differentially regulated proteins categorized under several biological pathways. Those exploratory findings support proteomics as a tool for developing novel syphilis diagnostics.",

keywords = "Treponema pallidum, biomarkers, diagnostic development, proteomics, syphilis",

author = "Cody Chou and Morton, \{Shad R.\} and Konda, \{Kelika A.\} and Silver Vargas and Michael Reyes-Diaz and Francesca Vasquez and Caceres, \{Carlos F.\} and Klausner, \{Jeffrey D.\} and Trey Toombs and Rushdy Ahmad and Allan-Blitz, \{Lao Tzu\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.",

year = "2026",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1093/ofid/ofag498",

language = "Ingl{\'e}s",

volume = "13",

journal = "Open Forum Infectious Diseases",

issn = "2328-8957",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults

AU - Chou, Cody

AU - Morton, Shad R.

AU - Konda, Kelika A.

AU - Vargas, Silver

AU - Reyes-Diaz, Michael

AU - Vasquez, Francesca

AU - Caceres, Carlos F.

AU - Klausner, Jeffrey D.

AU - Toombs, Trey

AU - Ahmad, Rushdy

AU - Allan-Blitz, Lao Tzu

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

PY - 2026/8

Y1 - 2026/8

N2 - Syphilis diagnostics struggle to distinguish active from treated disease. Using tandem-mass-tag proteomics on plasma from 10 secondary and early latent syphilis cases and 8 matched controls, we identified 54 differentially regulated proteins categorized under several biological pathways. Those exploratory findings support proteomics as a tool for developing novel syphilis diagnostics.

AB - Syphilis diagnostics struggle to distinguish active from treated disease. Using tandem-mass-tag proteomics on plasma from 10 secondary and early latent syphilis cases and 8 matched controls, we identified 54 differentially regulated proteins categorized under several biological pathways. Those exploratory findings support proteomics as a tool for developing novel syphilis diagnostics.

KW - Treponema pallidum

KW - biomarkers

KW - diagnostic development

KW - proteomics

KW - syphilis

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105047362169

U2 - 10.1093/ofid/ofag498

DO - 10.1093/ofid/ofag498

M3 - Artículo

AN - SCOPUS:105047362169

SN - 2328-8957

VL - 13

JO - Open Forum Infectious Diseases

JF - Open Forum Infectious Diseases

IS - 8

M1 - ofag498

ER -

An Exploratory Study of Host Plasma Proteomic Signatures that Distinguish Secondary and Early Latent Syphilis in Adults

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this