Abundance matters: role of albumin in diabetes,a proteomics perspective

Introduction: Human serum albumin (HSA) is a multifaceted protein with vital physiological functions. It is the most abundant plasma protein with inherent capability to bind to diverse ligands, and thus susceptible to various post-translational modifications (PTMs) which alter its structure and functions. One such PTM is glycation, a non-enzymatic reaction between reducing sugar and protein leading to formation of heterogeneous advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Glycated albumin (GA) concentration increases significantly in diabetes and is implicated in development of secondary complications.

Areas covered: In this review, we discuss in depth, formation of GA and its consequences, approaches used for characterization and quantification of GA, milestones in GA proteomics, clinical relevance of GA as a biomarker, significance of maintaining abundant levels of albumin and future perspectives.

Expert commentary: Elevated GA levels are associated with development of insulin resistance as well as secondary complications, in healthy and diabetic individuals respectively. Mass spectrometry (MS) based approaches aid in precise characterization and quantification of GA including early and advanced glycated peptides, which can be useful in prediction of the disease status. Thus GA has evolved to be one of the best candidates in the pursuit of diagnostic markers for prediction of prediabetes and diabetic complications.     

鼻咽癌细胞系与永生化的鼻咽上皮细胞系蛋白质表达差异分析

鼻咽癌对我国南部居民的健康造成严重的威胁.为了研究鼻咽癌的发病机理，本研究采用了蛋白质组学技术分析和比较了鼻咽癌细胞系（HNE1和CNE1）与永生化的鼻咽上皮细胞系的蛋白质表达谱.采用双向凝胶电泳分离提取的全细胞蛋白质，通过PDQuest软件分析找出在肿瘤中表达变化的蛋白质点，用基质辅助激光解析电离飞行时间串联质谱(MALDI- TOF/TOF-MS)进行鉴定.共得到了15个在肿瘤细胞系中表达上调和18个在肿瘤细胞系中表达下调的蛋白质，并对其中一些蛋白质的表达进行免疫印迹的验证.这些表达差异的蛋白质与细胞的增殖和调亡、癌症的转移，细胞骨架，信号传导等有关.本研究鉴定了一批可能作为鼻咽癌治疗的药物靶标的蛋白质，并对研究鼻咽癌发病机理提供了相关的线索.     

Advances in the development of human protein microarrays

Introduction: High-content protein microarrays in principle enable the functional interrogation of the human proteome in a broad range of applications, including biomarker discovery, profiling of immune responses, identification of enzyme substrates, and quantifying protein-small molecule, protein-protein and protein-DNA/RNA interactions. As with other microarrays, the underlying proteomic platforms are under active technological development and a range of different protein microarrays are now commercially available. However, deciphering the differences between these platforms to identify the most suitable protein microarray for the specific research question is not always straightforward.

Areas covered: This review provides an overview of the technological basis, applications and limitations of some of the most commonly used full-length, recombinant protein and protein fragment microarray platforms, including ProtoArray Human Protein Microarrays, HuProt Human Proteome Microarrays, Human Protein Atlas Protein Fragment Arrays, Nucleic Acid Programmable Arrays and Immunome Protein Arrays.

Expert commentary: The choice of appropriate protein microarray platform depends on the specific biological application in hand, with both more focused, lower density and higher density arrays having distinct advantages. Full-length protein arrays offer advantages in biomarker discovery profiling applications, although care is required in ensuring that the protein production and array fabrication methodology is compatible with the required downstream functionality.     

Insights from protein-protein interaction studies on bacterial pathogenesis

Introduction: The threat bacterial pathogens pose to human health is increasing with the number and distribution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, while the rate of discovery of new antimicrobials dwindles. Proteomics is playing key roles in understanding the molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis, and in identifying disease outcome determinants. The physical associations identified by proteomics can provide the means to develop pathogen-specific treatment methods that reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance and alleviate the negative effects of broad-spectrum antibiotics on beneficial bacteria.

Areas covered: This review discusses recent trends in proteomics and introduces new and developing approaches that can be applied to the study of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) underlying bacterial pathogenesis. The approaches examined encompass options for mapping proteomes as well as stable and transient interactions in vivo and in vitro. We also explored the coverage of bacterial and human-bacterial PPIs, knowledge gaps in this area, and how they can be filled.

Expert commentary: Identifying potential antimicrobial candidates is confounded by the complex molecular biology of bacterial pathogenesis and the lack of knowledge about PPIs underlying this process. Proteomics approaches can offer new perspectives for mechanistic insights and identify essential targets for guiding the discovery of next generation antimicrobials.     

Proteins in Tumor-Derived Plasma Extracellular Vesicles Indicate Tumor Origin

Cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) promote tumorigenesis, premetastatic niche formation, and metastasis via their protein cargo. However, the proteins packaged by patient tumors into EVs cannot be determined in vivo because of the presence of EVs derived from other tissues. We therefore developed a cross-species proteomic method to quantify the human tumor-derived proteome of plasma EVs produced by patient-derived xenografts of four cancer types. Proteomic profiling revealed individualized packaging of novel protein cargo, and machine learning accurately classified the type of the underlying tumor.     

羟基喜树碱诱导肝癌细胞凋亡前后线粒体疏水蛋白质组的定量分析

抗癌剂羟基喜树碱可以通过线粒体途径诱导肝癌细胞凋亡.应用定量蛋白质组学技术分析羟 基喜树碱诱导肝癌细胞凋亡前后的线粒体疏水蛋白质差异表达，探讨癌细胞凋亡机制及羟基 喜树碱的抗癌机理.分离提取羟基喜树碱诱导肝癌细胞凋亡前后的线粒体,并采用顺序抽提法提取疏水蛋白质；用含稳定同位素亲和标签的c-ICAT试剂标记蛋白，利用基于多维色谱线性离子阱/静电场轨道阱质谱联用技术的鸟枪(shotgun)法策略分析鉴定了在肝癌细胞凋亡前后的线粒体中表达量差异有显著统计学意义(P<0.05)的疏水蛋白144种，其中, 12种蛋白的表达量在凋亡细胞中下调，而表达量在羟基喜树碱诱导细胞凋亡后上调10倍以上的蛋白43种.这些蛋白主要与细胞分裂增殖、分化凋亡、能量代谢、核酸代谢以及信号转导相关.该研究结果为在亚细胞定量蛋白质组水平上深入探讨羟基喜树碱的作用机理提供了新的实验依据，亦为研究肿瘤细胞凋亡机制提供了新的思路.     

普萘洛尔对映异构体诱导HUVEC细胞的蛋白质表达谱差异

手性药物只能通过严格的手性识别才能选择性地与特定生物大分子相互作用，在药动学、药效学等方面上表现出手性特征.以非选择性β肾上腺素能受体阻滞剂普萘洛尔（PRO）的对映异构体R(+)/S(-)-PRO为模型药物，分别作用于人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVEC），提取全细胞蛋白质，经双向电泳、MALDI-TOF-MS、SWISSPROT数据库分析鉴定差异表达蛋白质；共筛选出22个差异表达蛋白质点，鉴定了HSP86、HSP84、GRP75、KLC18、KBTB2、TGM2、GBLP、GCNT2、RAB36、KLH34等10种蛋白质.研究表明，PRO对映异构体可引起广泛的基因表达改变，涉及信号分子、代谢酶、骨架蛋白、伴侣蛋白等，且具有显著的手性特征，这可能与PRO显著的手性生物学特征有紧密联系，但仍需开展进一步深入研究，以明确产生PRO手性生物学特征的多种途径和机制.蛋白质组学技术为深入了解药物的手性生物学特征及其作用机制提供了新的思路和策略，对手性药物开发和临床合理用药有着重要的意义.