Comparative proteomic approach identifies PKM2 and cofilin-1 as potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic targets for pulmonary adenocarcinoma

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Non-small cell lung carcinomas (Non-SCLC) account for almost 80% of lung cancers, of which 40% were adenocarcinomas. For a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the development and progression of lung cancer, particularly lung adenocarcinoma, we have used proteomics technology to search for candidate prognostic and therapeutic targets in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. The protein profile changes between human pulmonary adenocarcinoma tissue and paired surrounding normal tissue were analyzed using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) based approach. Differentially expressed protein-spots were identified with ESI-Q-TOF MS/MS instruments. As a result, thirty two differentially expressed proteins (over 2-fold, p<0.05) were identified in pulmonary adenocarcinoma compared to normal tissues. Among them, two proteins (PKM2 and cofilin-1), significantly up-regulated in adenocarcinoma, were selected for detailed analysis. Immunohistochemical examination indicated that enhanced expression of PKM2 and cofilin-1 were correlated with the severity of epithelial dysplasia, as well as a relatively poor prognosis. Knockdown of PKM2 expression by RNA interference led to a significant suppression of cell growth and induction of apoptosis in pulmonary adenocarcinoma SPC-A1 cells in vitro, and tumor growth inhibition in vivo xenograft model (P<0.05). In addition, the shRNA expressing plasmid targeting cofilin-1 significantly inhibited tumor metastases and prolonged survival in LL/2 metastatic model. While additional works are needed to elucidate the biological significance and molecular mechanisms of these altered proteins identified in this study, PKM2 and cofilin-1 may serve as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as therapeutic targets for pulmonary adenocarcinoma.     

Deranged expression of molecular chaperones in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the disorders caused by protein conformational changes and recent studies have shown that several chaperone proteins are involved in this process. As information of chaperone expression in AD brain is limited, we aimed to study the expressional pattern of chaperones in several brain regions, as this may be essential to understand how folding defects can lead to disease. We studied the concomitant expressional patterns of molecular chaperones in seven brain regions of adults with AD using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-associated laser desorption ionization mass spectroscopy (MALDI-MS). We unambiguously identified and quantified nine different chaperone proteins. Six chaperone proteins, heat shock protein 60 (HSP 60), HSP 70 RY, heat shock cognate (HSC) 71, alpha crystallin B chain, glucose regulated protein (GRP) 75, and GRP 94 showed aberrant expressional patterns depending on brain region. HSP 70.1, GRP 78 and T-complex 1 (TCP-1) epsilon subunit did not show any significant expressional change. These findings are compatible with neuropathological and biochemical abnormalities in AD brain and this report presents the first approach to quantify nine different chaperones simultaneously at the protein level in individual AD brain regions providing evidence for the relevance of aberrant chaperone expression to AD neuropathology.     

脊髓全横断损伤后差异表达蛋白的蛋白质组学分析

 对脊髓全横断损伤前后的大鼠脊髓全蛋白质进行双向凝胶电泳,借助PDQuest软件从中找出差异表达蛋白质点.应用基质辅助激光解吸电离串联质谱,对差异表达的蛋白质点进行鉴定,成功鉴定出18种蛋白质.脊髓损伤3 d后表达上调的蛋白质有巨噬细胞游走抑制因子、S期激酶相关蛋白 1、热休克蛋白 27、多配体蛋白聚糖 3、T细胞受体β链可变区、膜联蛋白Ⅲ、腺苷酸激酶 1、半乳凝素 3、丙酮酸脱氢酶、磷脂酶 B、嗜铬粒蛋白 A、热休克蛋白70凝结蛋白 1;同时表达下调的蛋白质有磷酸丙糖异构酶、神经鞘氨醇磷酸化受体、热休克蛋白10、肽酰 脯氨酰 顺反式异构酶 A多数差异蛋白质涉及到神经细胞的增殖、凋亡、应激反应等过程,为进一步阐明中枢神经系统的损伤和修复机制提供了理论依据.摘要 对脊髓全横断损伤前后的大鼠脊髓全蛋白质进行双向凝胶电泳,借助PDQuest软件从中找出差异表达蛋白质点.应用基质辅助激光解吸电离串联质谱,对差异表达的蛋白质点进行鉴定,成功鉴定出18种蛋白质.脊髓损伤3 d后表达上调的蛋白质有巨噬细胞游走抑制因子、S期激酶相关蛋白 1、热休克蛋白 27、多配体蛋白聚糖 3、T细胞受体β链可变区、膜联蛋白Ⅲ、腺苷酸激酶 1、半乳凝素 3、丙酮酸脱氢酶、磷脂酶 B、嗜铬粒蛋白 A、热休克蛋白70凝结蛋白 1;同时表达下调的蛋白质有磷酸丙糖异构酶、神经鞘氨醇磷酸化受体、热休克蛋白10、肽酰 脯氨酰 顺反式异构酶 A多数差异蛋白质涉及到神经细胞的增殖、凋亡、应激反应等过程,为进一步阐明中枢神经系统的损伤和修复机制提供了理论依据.     

Activity-dependent neuroprotector homeobox protein: A candidate protein identified in serum as diagnostic biomarker for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia of late life. To enhance our understanding of AD proteome, the serum proteins were analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) combined with nano-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (nano-HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) followed by peptide fragmentation patterning. In this study, six protein spots with differential expression were identified. Five up-regulated proteins were identified as actin, apolipoprotein A-IV (Apo A-IV), inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4 (ITIH4), alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), and antithrombin-III (AT-III); one protein, activity-dependent neuroprotector homeobox protein (ADNP) was down-regulated in AD patients. These proteins with differential expression in the serum may serve as potential indicators of AD. Our results suggested that ADNP may play an important role in slowing the progression of clinical symptoms of AD.     

Fine-needle aspiration of thyroid nodules: proteomic analysis to identify cancer biomarkers

At present, the clinical and pathological analysis used in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) are insufficient to discern tumor behavior, and new diagnostic and prognostic markers need to be identified. In this study, we performed a comparative proteome analysis to examine the global changes of fine needle aspiration fluid (FNA) protein patterns of two variants of malignant PTC (classical variant PTC (cPTC) and tall cell variant PTC (TCV)) with respect to the controls. Changes in protein expression were identified using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) and peptide mass fingerprinting via MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS), as well as Western blot analysis. A statistical significant up-regulation of 17 protein spots in cPTC and/or TCV with respect to controls was demonstrated. These proteins included transthyretin precursor (TTR), ferritin light chain (FLC), proteasome activator complex subunit 1 and 2, alpha-1-antitrypsin precursor, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), lactate dehydrogenase chain B (LDH-B), apolipoprotein A1 precursor (Apo-A1), annexin A1, DJ-1 protein and cofilin-1. In addition, 12 protein spots were found exclusively in cPTC and three exclusively in TCV. These latter proteins (ferritin heavy chain (FHC), peroxiredoxin 1 (PRX1) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PDGH)) correspond to stress response proteins and, until now, had not been described in thyroid tumors. These findings illustrate the potential use of FNA proteomics to identify protein changes associated with thyroid cancer and to advance potential protein biomarkers in the diagnostic classification of the disease.     

Deep proteomic network analysis of Alzheimer’s disease brain reveals alterations in RNA binding proteins and RNA splicing associated with disease

Background

The complicated cellular and biochemical changes that occur in brain during Alzheimer’s disease are poorly understood. In a previous study we used an unbiased label-free quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomic approach to analyze these changes at a systems level in post-mortem cortical tissue from patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AsymAD), and controls. We found modules of co-expressed proteins that correlated with AD phenotypes, some of which were enriched in proteins identified as risk factors for AD by genetic studies.

Methods

The amount of information that can be obtained from such systems-level proteomic analyses is critically dependent upon the number of proteins that can be quantified across a cohort. We report here a new proteomic systems-level analysis of AD brain based on 6,533 proteins measured across AD, AsymAD, and controls using an analysis pipeline consisting of isobaric tandem mass tag (TMT) mass spectrometry and offline prefractionation.

Results

Our new TMT pipeline allowed us to more than double the depth of brain proteome coverage. This increased depth of coverage greatly expanded the brain protein network to reveal new protein modules that correlated with disease and were unrelated to those identified in our previous network. Differential protein abundance analysis identified 350 proteins that had altered levels between AsymAD and AD not caused by changes in specific cell type abundance, potentially reflecting biochemical changes that are associated with cognitive decline in AD. RNA binding proteins emerged as a class of proteins altered between AsymAD and AD, and were enriched in network modules that correlated with AD pathology. We developed a proteogenomic approach to investigate RNA splicing events that may be altered by RNA binding protein changes in AD. The increased proteome depth afforded by our TMT pipeline allowed us to identify and quantify a large number of alternatively spliced protein isoforms in brain, including AD risk factors such as BIN1, PICALM, PTK2B, and FERMT2. Many of the new AD protein network modules were enriched in alternatively spliced proteins and correlated with molecular markers of AD pathology and cognition.

Conclusions

Further analysis of the AD brain proteome will continue to yield new insights into the biological basis of AD.

     

Proteomic expression analysis of cardiomyocytes subjected to proteasome inhibition

We hypothesized that impaired proteasomal function affects gene expression in cardiomyocytes. To identify those genes, a proteomics-based analysis of neonatal rat cardiac myocytes treated with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 in comparison to vehicle treated control cells was performed. MG132 treatment induced reproducible changes in the protein expression profile, which was analyzed by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis followed by tryptic peptide mass fingerprinting for spot identification by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The identified protein alterations could be grouped into three major categories: (1) induction of small heat shock proteins (HSPs) with chaperonic function, such as HSP27, alphaB-crystallin, and cardiovascular HSP, (2) altered expression of actin associated proteins, such as cofilin-1 and transgelin, and (3) induction of antioxidant proteins, such as peroxiredoxin-1, superoxide dismutase-1, and hemeoxygenase-1. Northern blotting revealed that expression was regulated at the mRNA level. Given that proteasomal activity is decreased in cardiovascular diseases, alterations in proteasome-dependent control of mRNA expression could provide a novel mechanism by which disease progression is modulated.     

Beta-amyloid treatment of two complementary P301L tau-expressing Alzheimer's disease models reveals similar deregulated cellular processes

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by Abeta peptide-containing plaques and tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Both pathologies have been combined by crossing Abeta plaque-forming APP mutant mice with NFT-forming P301L tau mutant mice or by stereotaxically injecting beta-amyloid peptide 1-42 (Abeta42) into brains of P301L tau mutant mice. In cell culture, Abeta42 induces filamentous tau aggregates. To understand which processes are disrupted by Abeta42 in the presence of tau aggregates, we applied comparative proteomics to Abeta42-treated P301L tau-expressing neuroblastoma cells and the amygdala of P301L tau transgenic mice stereotaxically injected with Abeta42. Remarkably, a significant fraction of proteins altered in both systems belonged to the same functional categories, i.e. stress response and metabolism. We also identified model-specific effects of Abeta42 treatment such as differences in cell signaling proteins in the cellular model and of cytoskeletal and synapse associated proteins in the amygdala. By Western blotting (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), we were able to show that 72% of the tested candidates were altered in human AD brain with a major emphasis on stress-related unfolded protein responsive candidates. These data highlight these processes as potentially important initiators in the Abeta42-mediated pathogenic cascade in AD and further support the role of unfolded proteins in the course of AD.     

Quantitative proteomics analysis of phosphorylated proteins in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease subjects

Phosphorylation on tyrosine, threonine and serine residues represents one of the most important post-translational modifications and is a key regulator of cellular signaling of multiple biological processes that require a strict control by protein kinases and protein phosphatases. Abnormal protein phosphorylation has been associated with several human diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD). One of the characteristic hallmarks of AD is the presence of neurofibrillary tangles, composed of microtubule-associated, abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau protein. However, several others proteins showed altered phosphorylation levels in AD suggesting that deregulated phosphorylation may contribute to AD pathogenesis. Phosphoproteomics has recently gained attention as a valuable approach to analyze protein phosphorylation, both in a quantitative and a qualitative way. We used the fluorescent phosphospecific Pro-Q Diamond dye to identify proteins that showed alterations in their overall phosphorylation in the hippocampus of AD vs. control (CTR) subjects. Significant changes were found for 17 proteins involved in crucial neuronal process such as energy metabolism or signal transduction. These phosphoproteome data may provide new clues to better understand molecular pathways that are deregulated in the pathogenesis and progression of AD.     

Differential Expression of Proteins in Brain Regions of Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common form of dementia and cognitive impairment is usually characterized by neuritic amyloid plaques, cerebrovascular amyloidosis and neurofibrillary tangles. In order to find out the pathological protein expression, a quantitative proteome analysis of AD hippocampus, substantia nigra and cortex was performed and the extent of protein expression variation not only in contrast to age-matched controls but also among the understudied regions was analyzed. Expression alterations of 48 proteins were observed in each region along with significant co/contra regulation of malate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase B chain, aconitate hydratase, protein NipSnap homolog 2, actin cytoplasmic 1, creatine kinase U-type and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. These differentially expressed proteins are mainly involved in energy metabolism, cytoskeleton integration, apoptosis and several other potent cellular/molecular processes. Interaction association network analysis further confirms the close interacting relationship between the co/contra regulated differentially expressed proteins among all the three regions. Elucidation of co/contra regulation of differentially expressed proteins will be helpful to understand disease progression and functional alterations associated with AD.     

Analysis of the saliva proteome from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma reveals differences in abundance levels of proteins associated with tumour progression and metastasis

The objective of this study was to identify differentially expressed proteins in saliva from HNSCC patients compared to a control group. Saliva samples from eight individuals with non-malignant conditions of the head and neck region were employed as a control group and compared to saliva from eight patients with HNSCC using 2D DIGE analysis and subsequent mass spectrometry identification of candidate proteins. Beta fibrin (+2.77-fold), S100 calcium binding protein (+5.35-fold), transferrin (+3.37-fold), immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region gamma (+3.28) and cofilin-1 (+6.42) were all found to be significantly increased in the saliva from HNSCC samples compared to the control group whereas transthyretin (-2.92-fold) was significantly decreased. The increased abundance of one of the proteins identified (S100 calcium binding protein) was confirmed by immunoblot analysis. Many of these proteins are involved in tumour progression, metastasis and angiogenesis. The proximity of saliva to the developing tumour is undoubtedly a major factor in facilitating detection of these proteins and such a strategy may lead to the development of a panel of biomarkers useful for therapeutic monitoring and for early detection of HNSCC.     

Reaching Out to Send a Message: Proteins Associated with Neurite Outgrowth and Neurotransmission are Altered with Age in the Long-Lived Naked Mole-Rat

Aging is the greatest risk factor for developing neurodegenerative diseases, which are associated with diminished neurotransmission as well as neuronal structure and function. However, several traits seemingly evolved to avert or delay age-related deterioration in the brain of the longest-lived rodent, the naked mole-rat (NMR). The NMR remarkably also exhibits negligible senescence, maintaining an extended healthspan for ~75 % of its life span. Using a proteomic approach, statistically significant changes with age in expression and/or phosphorylation levels of proteins associated with neurite outgrowth and neurotransmission were identified in the brain of the NMR and include: cofilin-1; collapsin response mediator protein 2; actin depolymerizing factor; spectrin alpha chain; septin-7; syntaxin-binding protein 1; synapsin-2 isoform IIB; and dynamin 1. We hypothesize that such changes may contribute to the extended lifespan and healthspan of the NMR.     

Proteomic characterization of postmortem amyloid plaques isolated by laser capture microdissection

The presence of amyloid plaques in the brain is one of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We report here a comprehensive proteomic analysis of senile plaques from postmortem AD brain tissues. Senile plaques labeled with thioflavin-S were procured by laser capture microdissection, and their protein components were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. We identified a total of 488 proteins co-isolated with the plaques, and we found multiple phosphorylation sites on the neurofilament intermediate chain, implicating the complexity and diversity of cellular processes involved in the plaque formation. More significantly, we identified 26 proteins enriched in the plaques of two AD cases by quantitative comparison with surrounding non-plaque tissues. The localization of several proteins in the plaques was further confirmed by the approach of immunohistochemistry. In addition to previously identified plaque constituents, we discovered novel association of dynein heavy chain with the plaques in human postmortem brain and in a double transgenic AD mouse model, suggesting that neuronal transport may play a role in neuritic degeneration. Overall, our results revealed for the first time the sub-proteome of amyloid plaques that is important for further studies on disease biomarker identification and molecular mechanisms of AD pathogenesis.     

Proteomic identification of altered protein O-GlcNAcylation in a triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

PET scan analysis demonstrated the early reduction of cerebral glucose metabolism in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients that can make neurons vulnerable to damage via the alteration of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). Defective HBP leads to flawed protein O-GlcNAcylation coupled, by a mutual inverse relationship, with increased protein phosphorylation on Ser/Thr residues. Altered O-GlcNAcylation of Tau and APP have been reported in AD and is closely related with pathology onset and progression. In addition, type 2 diabetes patients show an altered O-GlcNAcylation/phosphorylation that might represent a link between metabolic defects and AD progression. Our study aimed to decipher the specific protein targets of altered O-GlcNAcylation in brain of 12-month-old 3×Tg-AD mice compared with age-matched non-Tg mice. Hence, we analysed the global O-GlcNAc levels, the levels and activity of OGT and OGA, the enzymes controlling its cycling and protein specific O-GlcNAc levels using a bi-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) approach. Our data demonstrate the alteration of OGT and OGA activation coupled with the decrease of total O-GlcNAcylation levels. Data from proteomics analysis led to the identification of several proteins with reduced O-GlcNAcylation levels, which belong to key pathways involved in the progression of AD such as neuronal structure, protein degradation and glucose metabolism. In parallel, we analysed the O-GlcNAcylation/phosphorylation ratio of IRS1 and AKT, whose alterations may contribute to insulin resistance and reduced glucose uptake. Our findings may contribute to better understand the role of altered protein O-GlcNAcylation profile in AD, by possibly identifying novel mechanisms of disease progression related to glucose hypometabolism.     

Proteomics analysis of methylglyoxal-induced neurotoxic effects in SH-SY5Y cells

Reactive carbonyl compounds contribute to aging, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. Among these compounds, methylglyoxal (MG) can yield advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are crucial in AD pathogenesis. However, the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of MG neurotoxicity are not completely understood. In the present study, SH-SY5Y cells were treated with MG to induce cell death. 2-D Fluorescence Difference Gel Electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry were employed to determine the changes in protein levels in these cells compared with vehicle-treated cells. Proteomics analysis revealed that 49 proteins were differentially expressed in MG-treated SH-SY5Y cells, of which 16 were upregulated and 33 were downregulated. Among them, eight proteins were identified unambiguously. The significant changes in protein levels of actin, immunoglobulin lambda light chain and protein phosphatase 2 were noteworthy given their functional roles in AD pathogenesis. Taken together, our results suggest that multiple pathways are potentially involved in MG-induced neuron death.     

Loss of neprilysin alters protein expression in the brain of Alzheimer's disease model mice

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease displaying extracellular plaques formed by the neurotoxic amyloid β‐peptide (Aβ), and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles consisting of protein tau. However, how these pathologies relate to the massive neuronal death that occurs in AD brains remain elusive. Neprilysin is the major Aβ‐degrading enzyme and a lack thereof increases Aβ levels in the brain twofold. To identify altered protein expression levels induced by increased Aβ levels, we performed a proteomic analysis of the brain of the AD mouse model APPsw and compared it to that of APPsw mice lacking neprilysin. To this end we established an LC‐MS/MS method to analyze brain homogenate, using an ¹⁸O‐labeled internal standard to accurately quantify the protein levels. To distinguish between alterations in protein levels caused by increased Aβ levels and those induced by neprilysin deficiency independently of Aβ, the brain proteome of neprilysin deficient APPsw mice was also compared to that of neprilysin deficient mice. By this approach we identified approximately 600 proteins and the levels of 300 of these were quantified. Pathway analysis showed that many of the proteins with altered expression were involved in neurological disorders, and that tau, presenilin and APP were key regulators in the identified networks. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium with identifiers PXD000968 and PXD001786 ( http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000968 and ( http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001786 ). Interestingly, the levels of several proteins, including some not previously reported to be linked to AD, were associated with increased Aβ levels.     

The commonality of protein interaction networks determined in neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs)

MOTIVATION: Neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) are progressive and fatal disorders, which are commonly characterized by the intracellular or extracellular presence of abnormal protein aggregates. The identification and verification of proteins interacting with causative gene products are effective ways to understand their physiological and pathological functions. The objective of this research is to better understand common molecular pathogenic mechanisms in NDDs by employing protein-protein interaction networks, the domain characteristics commonly identified in NDDs and correlation among NDDs based on domain information. RESULTS: By reviewing published literatures in PubMed, we created pathway maps in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) for the protein-protein interactions in six NDDs: Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD), dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) and prion disease (PRION). We also collected data on 201 interacting proteins and 13 compounds with 282 interactions from the literature. We found 19 proteins common to these six NDDs. These common proteins were mainly involved in the apoptosis and MAPK signaling pathways. We expanded the interaction network by adding protein interaction data from the Human Protein Reference Database and gene expression data from the Human Gene Expression Index Database. We then carried out domain analysis on the extended network and found the characteristic domains, such as 14-3-3 protein, phosphotyrosine interaction domain and caspase domain, for the common proteins. Moreover, we found a relatively high correlation between AD, PD, HD and PRION, but not ALS or DRPLA, in terms of the protein domain distributions. AVAILABILITY: http://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway/hsa/hsa01510.html (KEGG pathway maps for NDDs).     

The reduction of NADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase 24- and 75-kDa subunits in brains of patients with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease

NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I), one of the most complicated multi-protein enzyme complexes, is important for energy metabolism because it is the initial enzyme of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Deficiency of complex I is frequently found in various tissues of patients with neurodegenerative disease. Here we studied the protein levels of complex I 24- and 75-kDa subunits in several brain regions from patients with Down syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We determined protein levels of complex I 24-, 75-kDa subunits and mitochondrial marker proteins mitochondrial matrix protein P1 (hsp60) and aconitate hydratase from seven brain regions of patients with DS, AD and controls. Proteins were separated by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). Complex I 24-kDa subunit was significantly reduced in occipital cortex and thalamus in patients with DS and temporal and occipital cortices in patients with AD. Complex I 75-kDa subunit was significantly reduced in brain regions from patients with DS (temporal, occipital and caudate nucleus) and AD (parietal cortex). Reductions of two subunits of complex I may lead to the impairment of energy metabolism and result in neuronal cell death (apoptosis), a hallmark of both neurodegenerative disorders.