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• Researchers tested whether placebo effects can be monitored and predicted by plasma proteins.

• Participants were exposed to a nauseating stimulus on two separate days.

• Participants were randomly assigned to placebo treatment or no treatment on the second day.

• Significant placebo effects on nausea, motion sickness, and gastric activity in females could be verified.

• Using a type of mass spectrometry, 74 differentially regulated proteins were identified that correlates with the placebo effect.

• Gene ontology enrichment analyses identified acute-phase proteins and microinflammatory proteins to be involved.

• Gene ontology provides a framework and set of concepts for describing the functions of gene products from all organisms.

• Acute phase proteins are plasma proteins synthesized in the liver whose concentrations increase or decrease during inflammation.

• The identified gene ontology signatures predicted day-adjusted scores of nausea indices in the placebo group.

• Researchers also performed gene ontology enrichment analyses of specific plasma proteins predictable by the experimental factors or their interactions and identified ‘grooming behavior’ as an important hit.

• Graphical analysis allowed to identify plasma proteins differentiating placebo responders from non-responders, comprising immunoglobulins and proteins involved in oxidation reduction processes and complement activation.

• The study of plasma proteins is a promising tool to identify molecular correlation and prediction of the placebo effect in humans.

Sources:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238533

https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-4939-3743-1_2

https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780323357753/pathologic-basis-of-veterinary-disease

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