非小细胞肺癌患者尿中Exosomes蛋白质组的差异表达分析

除血浆之外,尿液是另一种寻找潜在生物标志物的重要生物材料。本研究以200000×g超速离心法分离正常人和非小细胞肺癌(NSCLC)患者尿液中的Exosomes,运用1DSDS-PAGE对Exosomes蛋白质组进行分组,从电泳胶上切取正常组和疾病组的20～31kDa条带,胰蛋白酶酶解后,进行HPLC-CHIP-MS/MS分析,并通过UniProtKB/SWISS-PORT数据库搜索鉴定了24种蛋白质,其中在NSCLC患者尿液Exosomes蛋白质组中发现了8种差异表达蛋白,包括免疫球蛋白κ的3个片段、2种Ras相关蛋白、谷胱甘肽S转移酶A2、血清淀粉样P成分前体和磷脂酰乙醇胺结合蛋白1。     

Comprehensive analysis of low-abundance proteins in human urinary exosomes using peptide ligand library technology, peptide OFFGEL fractionation and nanoHPLC-chip-MS/MS

Human urinary exosomes are 30-100 nm vesicles that originate as the internal vesicles in multivesicular bodies from every renal epithelial cell type facing the urinary track and may serve as a suitable noninvasive starting material for biomarker discovery relevant to a variety of renal disease. To comprehensively explore the low-abundance proteome, combinatorial peptide ligand libraries, combined with peptide OFFGEL electrophoresis were employed for the enrichment and separation of relatively low-abundant proteins in urinary exosomes. After analysis by nanoHPLC-chip-MS/MS, 512 proteins were identified, including a large number of proteins with extreme molecular weight or extreme pI value, which could not be well mapped by using traditional 2-D-gel-based separation methods. This in-depth analysis of low-abundant proteins in urinary exosomes led to an increased understanding of molecular composition of these little vesicles and may be helpful for the discovery of novel biomarker. Our work also provides an effective strategy of concentration and identification of low-abundance proteome from complex bio-samples.     

Difference gel electrophoresis analysis of Ras-transformed fibroblast cell-derived exosomes

Exosomes are membrane vesicles of endocytic origin released by many cell types. The molecular composition of exosomes reflects the specialised functions of their original cells. For example, these vesicles can mediate communication through their ability to bind to target cells, facilitating processes such as vascular homeostasis and antigen presentation. Although the proteomes of exosomes from several cell types are known, exploration of exosomes from additional cell types may improve our understanding of their potential physiological roles. Here, we describe the isolation and characterisation of exosomes isolated from the culture medium of murine fibroblast NIH3T3 cells and Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells. The vesicular nature and size (30-100 nm) of the purified fibroblast exosomes was confirmed by electron microscopy. 2-D difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) was used to compare protein profiles of exosomes secreted from NIH3T3 cells and Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells. LC-MS/MS sequencing identified proteins in 188 protein spots in the exosomes from the two cell lines, many of which have been previously identified in exosomes from other cell types. However, some proteins identified are novel for fibroblast exosomes, such as Serpin B6. Over 34 proteins, including milk fat globule EGF factor 8 (lactadherin), collagen alpha-1 (VI), 14-3-3 isoforms, guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins), the eukaryotic translation initiation factors elF-3 gamma and elF-5A accumulated (>2-fold) in exosomes upon Ras-induced oncogenic transformation. Significantly, the 10.4-fold increase in v-Ha-Ras p21 protein in exosomes derived from Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells suggests that exosome secretion may be implicated in eradication of obsolete proteins.     

Exploration of Potential Tumor Markers for Lung Adenocarcinomas by Two‐Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis Coupled with Nano‐LC/MS/MS

To explore the potential tumor markers for lung adenocarcinoma, two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) coupled with nano‐LC/MS/MS was used to analyze the differentially expressed proteins in 10 surgical resected lung adenocarcinoma tissues. 16 proteins were significantly different between the cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissue. Galectin‐1, peroxiredoxin II (Prx II), proapolipoprotein, glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), aldolase A, enolase 1, neuropolypeptide h3, Prx V, cyclophilin A, vimentin, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), tropomyosin 3 (TPM 3), glutathione S‐transferase Pi (GST‐Pi), manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), and cofilin 1 were up‐regulated in the cancer tissue. On the other hand, profilin was down‐regulated in the cancer tissue. Among these proteins, six proteins were validated by Western blot analysis. The identified proteins contributing to the spectrum of cancer progression may be used as potential diagnostic biomarkers for lung adenocarcinomas.     

A hyphenated microLC-Q-TOF-MS platform for exosomal lipidomics investigations: application to RCC urinary exosomes

Urinary exosomes are released from every renal epithelial cell type facing the urinary space and therefore, they may carry molecular markers of renal dysfunction and structural injury. Here, we present a hyphenated microLC-Q-TOF-MS platform for lipidomics studies applied to investigate the urinary exosome lipid repertoire. Lipids were separated by reversed-phase chromatography using a linear gradient of formic acid 0.2% and tetrahydrofuran, in 40 min of analysis. Features (m/z with associated own retention time) were extracted by MarkerLynx(TM) (Waters) and processed, demonstrating good analytical performance in terms of repeatability and mass accuracy of the microLC Q-TOF MS platform. In particular, a stable retention time (RSD less than 4%) and relative intensity (RSD from 2.9% to 11%) were observed. Moreover, the method takes advantages by the use of a lock spray interface (Waters) that allows readjusting the m/z data after acquisition, obtaining inaccuracy below 6 ppm in measuring the m/z value of the reference compound during chromatographic run. The method was employed in a preliminary application to perform comparative analysis from healthy control subjects and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients, in order to possibly highlight differences in lipid composition to be exploited as potential tumor biomarker. Differential lipid composition in RCC urinary exosomes was achieved and tentatively identified by accurate mass, providing a preliminary indication of a relationship between lipid composition of urinary exosomes and RCC disease. Among the total features significantly different in RCC exosomes, the ion at m/z 502.3 was taken as an example for molecular confirmation by MS/MS fragmentation analysis.     

Quantitative analysis of differentially expressed saliva proteins in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected individuals

In the present study, we have established a new methodology to analyze saliva proteins from HIV-1-seropositive patients before highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and seronegative controls. A total of 593 and 601 proteins were identified in the pooled saliva samples from 5 HIV-1 subjects and 5 controls, respectively. Forty-one proteins were found to be differentially expressed. Bioinformatic analysis of differentially expressed salivary proteins showed an increase of antimicrobial proteins and decrease of protease inhibitors upon HIV-1 infection. To validate some of these differentially expressed proteins, a high-throughput quantitation method was established to determine concentrations of 10 salivary proteins in 40 individual saliva samples from 20 seropositive patients before HAART and 20 seronegative subjects. This method was based on limited protein separation within the zone of the stacking gel of the 1D SDS PAGE and using isotope-coded synthetic peptides as internal standards. The results demonstrated that a combination of protein profiling and targeted quantitation is an efficient method to identify and validate differentially expressed salivary proteins. Expression levels of members of the calcium-binding S100 protein family and deleted in malignant brain tumors 1 protein (DMBT1) were up-regulated while that of Mucin 5B was down-regulated in HIV-1 seropositive saliva samples, which may provide new perspectives for monitoring HIV-infection and understanding the mechanism of HIV-1 infectivity.     

Shotgun Proteomics of Isolated Urinary Extracellular Vesicles for Investigating Respiratory Impedance in Healthy Preschoolers

Urine proteomic applications in children suggested their potential in discriminating between healthy subjects from those with respiratory diseases. The aim of the current study was to combine protein fractionation, by urinary extracellular vesicle isolation, and proteomics analysis in order to establish whether different patterns of respiratory impedance in healthy preschoolers can be characterized from a protein fingerprint. Twenty-one 3–5-yr-old healthy children, representative of 66 recruited subjects, were selected: 12 late preterm (LP) and 9 full-term (T) born. Children underwent measurement of respiratory impedance through Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) and no significant differences between LP and T were found. Unbiased clustering, based on proteomic signatures, stratified three groups of children (A, B, C) with significantly different patterns of respiratory impedance, which was slightly worse in group A than in groups B and C. Six proteins (Tripeptidyl peptidase I (TPP1), Cubilin (CUBN), SerpinA4, SerpinF1, Thy-1 membrane glycoprotein (THY1) and Angiopoietin-related protein 2 (ANGPTL2)) were identified in order to type the membership of subjects to the three groups. The differential levels of the six proteins in groups A, B and C suggest that proteomic-based profiles of urinary fractionated exosomes could represent a link between respiratory impedance and underlying biological profiles in healthy preschool children.     

Plasma Exosomes of Patients with Breast and Ovarian Tumors Contain an Inactive 20S Proteasome

Exosomes are directly involved in governing of physiological and pathological conditions of an organism through the transfer of information from producing to receiving cells. It can be assumed that exosomes are one of the key players of tumor dissemination since they are very stable and small enough to penetrate from various tissues into biological fluids and then back, thus interacting with tissue target cells. We evaluated the enzymatic activity and the level of 20S proteasome in tissue and exosomes of healthy females (n = 39) and patients with ovarian (n = 50) and breast (n = 108) tumors to reveal the critical role of exosomal cargo in the mediation of different types of metastases. Exosomes from plasma and ascites were isolated and characterized in according to International Society for Extracellular Vesicles guidelines. The level of 20S proteasome in tissue and exosomes was determined using Western blot analysis. Chymotrypsin- and caspase-like (ChTL and CL, respectively) peptidase activities of the proteasomes were determined using fluorogenic Suc-LLVY-AMC and Cbz-LLG-AMC substrates, respectively. We observed increased levels of 20S proteasome in ovarian cancer tissue and luminal B subtype breast cancer tissue as well as in plasma exosomes from cancer patients. Moreover, the level of the 20S proteasome in plasma exosomes and ascites exosomes in patients with ovarian tumors is comparable and higher in ovarian cancer patients with low volume ascites than in patients with moderate and high-volume ascites. We also found increased ChTL and CL activities in breast cancer and ovarian cancer tissues, as well as in peritoneal metastases in ovarian cancer, while proteasomal activity in exosomes from plasma of healthy females and all patients, as well as from ascites of ovarian tumor patients were lower than detection limit of assay. Thus, regardless of the type of tumor metastasis (lymphogenous or peritoneal), the exosomes of cancer patients were characterized by an increased level of 20S proteasome, which do not exhibit enzymatic activity.     

Serum proteomic pattern in female stress urinary incontinence

The pathophysiology of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify the serum proteomic profile in patients with SUI and to replicate findings from a preceding study in which a significant difference in the urinary proteome was identified. Serum samples were collected from 38 patients (19 SUI; 19 matched, continent controls). Sample preparation included serum albumin depletion, in‐solution enzymatic digestion of proteins applying a combination of Gluc‐C and trypsin and peptide separation using nano High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Label‐free quantitation of peptides and proteins was performed after triplicate measurements using quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. Peptide identification was achieved by searching the Human SwissProt Database using Mascot and X!Tandem. Main outcome measure was the relative abundance of each detected protein in serum. Of 7012 identified proteins, 33 proteins were induced (detected in SUI, not in controls) and five proteins were depleted (detected in controls, not in SUI). All depleted proteins play a role in immune/DNA damage response. Induced proteins are involved in inflammatory response, response to cellular stress, coagulation and cytoskeleton stability/ motility. Plasma serine protease inhibitor (SERPINA5) was found induced and previously also showed a higher abundance in urine samples of SUI patients. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD008553.     

DNA Extraction from Formalin-fixed and Paraffin-embedded Tissues by Triton X-100 for Effective Amplification of EGFR Gene by Polymerase Chain Reaction

For first-line non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC) therapy, detecting mutation status of the epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) geneconstitutes a prudent test to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor(TKI) therapy. Now, the material for detecting EGFR gene mutation status mainly comes from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded(FFPE) tissues. DNA extraction from FFPE and the amplification of EGFR gene by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) are two key steps for detecting EGFR gene mutation. We showed a simple method of DNA extraction from FFPE tissues for the effective amplification of EGFR gene. Extracting DNA from the FFPE tissues of NSCLC patients with 1% Triton X-100(pH=10.0) was performed by heating at 95℃ for 30 min. Meanwhile, a commercial kit was used to extract DNA from the same FFPE tissues of NSCLC patients for comparison. DNA extracted products were used as template for amplifying the exons 18, 19, 20 and 21 of EGFR by PCR for different amplified fragments. Results show that DNA fragment size extracted from FFPE tissues with 1% Triton X was about 250-500 base pairs(bp). However,DNA fragment size extracted from FFPE tissues via commercial kit was about from several hundreds to several thousands bp. The DNA yield extracted from FFPE tissues with 1% Triton X was larger than that via commercial kit. For about 500 bp fragment, four exons of EGFR could not be amplified more efficiently from extracted DNA with 1% Triton X than with commercial kit. However, for about 200 bp fragment. This simple and non-laborious protocol could successfully be used to extract DNA from FFPE tissue for the amplification of EGFR gene by PCR, further screening of EGFR gene mutation and facilitating the molecular analysis of a large number of FFPE tissues from NSCLC patients.     

Study of urinary nucleosides as biological marker in cancer patients analyzed by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Thirteen normal and modified nucleosides, primarily degradation products of transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), were evaluated as potential tumor markers for cancer patients. Their urinary concentrations were determined by means of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) in the urine from 54 healthy adults and 70 cancer patients, then quantitatively expressed as a function of creatinine excretion. It was found that urinary nucleosides for cancer patients were on the average significantly higher than those for healthy controls, however, no significant differences were found between male and female or between different ages. Based on 13 urinary nucleoside concentrations, principal component analysis (PCA) could be used to classify 72% of cancer patients from the healthy controls. The present study shows that the precise measurement of urinary nucleosides by MEKC in combining with PCA technique may provide a clinically useful approach for diagnosis of cancer.     

基于超高效液相色谱-串联质谱的股骨头坏死组织外泌体脂质代谢组学分析

股骨头坏死(ONFH)是一种可导致股骨头塌陷进而需要接受全髋关节置换的疾病.外泌体作为一种细胞间交流的方式,在一系列生理和病理过程中起着至关重要的作用,已在疾病的诊断和治疗中发挥独特作用.该研究利用非靶向代谢组学方法,探讨股骨头坏死组织外泌体内的脂质代谢特征,阐释股骨头坏死时机体发生的脂质代谢变化.该研究采用超速离心的...     

Exosome enrichment of human serum using multiple cycles of centrifugation

In this work, we compared the use of repeated cycles of centrifugation at conventional speeds for enrichment of exosomes from human serum compared to the use of ultracentrifugation (UC). After removal of cells and cell debris, a speed of 110 000 × g or 40 000 × g was used for the UC or centrifugation enrichment process, respectively. The enriched exosomes were analyzed using the bicinchoninic acid assay, 1D gel separation, transmission electron microscopy, Western blotting, and high‐resolution LC‐MS/MS analysis. It was found that a five‐cycle repetition of UC or centrifugation is necessary for successful removal of nonexosomal proteins in the enrichment of exosomes from human serum. More significantly, 5× centrifugation enrichment was found to provide similar or better performance than 5× UC enrichment in terms of enriched exosome protein amount, Western blot band intensity for detection of CD‐63, and numbers of identified exosome‐related proteins and cluster of differentiation (CD) proteins. A total of 478 proteins were identified in the LC‐MS/MS analyses of exosome proteins obtained from 5× UCs and 5× centrifugations including many important CD membrane proteins. The presence of previously reported exosome‐related proteins including key exosome protein markers demonstrates the utility of this method for analysis of proteins in human serum.     

Urinary protein profiling by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry: ADAM28 is overexpressed in bladder transitional cell carcinoma

Bladder cancer is the most common urological cancer with higher incidence rate in the endemic areas of Blackfoot disease (BFD) in southern Taiwan. The aim of this study was to utilize the proteomic approach to establish urinary protein patterns of bladder cancer. The experimental results showed that most patients with bladder cancer had proteinuria or albuminuria. The urine arsenic concentrations of bladder cancer patients in BFD areas were significantly higher than those patients from non-BFD areas. In the proteomic analysis, the urinary proteome was identified by nano-high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (nano-HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) followed by peptide fragmentation pattern analysis. We categorized 2782 unique proteins of which 89 proteins were identified with at least three unique matching peptide sequences. Among these 89 proteins, thirteen of them were not found in the control group and may represent proteins specific for bladder cancer. In this study, three proteins, SPINK5, ADAM28 and PTP1, were also confirmed by Western blotting and showed significant differential expression compared with the control group. ADAM28 may be used as a possible biomarker of bladder cancer.     

4-巯基苯硼酸修饰二维二硫化钼纳米复合材料的制备及其用于N-糖肽特异性富集

蛋白质的N-糖基化修饰在多种生物过程中发挥着至关重要的作用，近年来的许多研究证实异常的蛋白质糖基化与多种疾病的发生发展密切相关，表明糖基化蛋白质具有较大的潜力成为新的生物标志物或者药物靶标。在样本的处理过程中，对N-糖基化肽段进行富集分离后再进行质谱分析已经成为糖蛋白质组学分析前的必要步骤。但是，由于复杂生物样本中N-糖基化肽段的丰度低和离子化效率差等问题，通过质谱鉴定N-糖肽仍然是一项艰巨的任务。研究通过将纳米金线（Au）、4-巯基苯硼酸（4-MPB）与超薄二维二硫化钼（2D-MoS₂）进行反应，成功制备了一种用于富集蛋白质N-糖基化肽段的新型功能纳米复合材料（MoS₂/Au/4-MPB）。二硫化钼纳米材料的层状结构可以为反应提供大量的可修饰位点，便于修饰纳米金线；功能基团4-巯基苯基硼酸对N-糖肽具有高度的选择性，可以对生物样品中N-糖基化肽段进行特异性富集。使用标准蛋白人免疫球蛋白G（IgG）和牛血清白蛋白（BSA）胰蛋白酶酶切产物对新型功能纳米材料的N-糖基化肽段的富集性能进行评估，其灵敏度达到5 fmol，选择性达到1：1000。将其用于生物样品中N-糖基化肽段的富集，从50 μg尿液外泌体蛋白胰蛋白酶酶切产物中共富集鉴定出768个N-糖肽，归属于377个蛋白质。这些结果表明该新型功能纳米复合材料对复杂生物样品中N-糖肽的选择富集有着巨大的应用潜力，为糖蛋白质组的研究提供了一种新方法。     

Large-scale analysis of posttranslational modifications in the hippocampus of patients with Alzheimer’s disease using pI shift and label-free quantification without enrichment

Posttranslational modifications modulate protein function in cells. Global analysis of multiple posttranslational modifications can provide insight into physiology and disease, but presents formidable challenges. In the present study, we used a technique that does not require target enrichment to analyze alterations in the phosphorylation and ubiquitination of proteins from patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Guided by our previous findings, we applied three strategies to further our understanding of the dysregulation of posttranslationally modified proteins. We first identified phosphorylation sites by determining peptide pI shifts using OFFGEL. Second, using tandem mass spectrometry, we determined the ubiquitination status of the proteins using an assay for a trypsin digestion remnant of ubiquitination (Gly-Gly). Third, for large-scale discovery, we quantified the global differences in protein expression. Of the proteins expressed in AD tissue at levels of 2.0 or greater compared with controls, 60 were phosphorylated and 56 were ubiquitinated. Of the proteins expressed at levels of 0.5 or lower compared with controls, 81 were phosphorylated and 56 were ubiquitinated. Approximately 98 % of the phosphopeptides exhibited a pI shift. We identified 112 new phosphorylation sites (51.38 %), and 92 new ubiquitination sites (96.84 %). Taken together, our findings suggest that analysis of the alterations in posttranslationally modified proteins may contribute to understanding the pathogenesis of AD and other diseases.     

基于亲和色谱的肺癌细胞磷酸化蛋白质组研究及其应用

磷酸化是蛋白质翻译后修饰的重要形式之一,其异常往往会导致细胞内信号通路的紊乱和疾病的发生。固定化金属离子亲和色谱(IMAC)是磷酸化肽段的高效富集技术,在磷酸化蛋白质组研究方面应用广泛。该研究以金属钛离子(Ti⁴⁺)螯合IMAC材料(Ti⁴⁺-IMAC)为载体,进行磷酸化肽段富集。比较了10 μm Ti⁴⁺-IMAC通过振荡法和固相萃取法(SPE)富集磷酸肽的效果,发现振荡法可以富集到更多的磷酸肽;对比了两种尺寸(10 μm和30 μm)Ti⁴⁺-IMAC在磷酸化肽段富集中的差异,发现小尺寸材料富集效果更佳。进一步采用优化的策略比较了不同转移能力肺癌细胞的磷酸化蛋白质组,免标记定量蛋白质组学结果表明,优化的Ti⁴⁺-IMAC方法可以从正常的肺成纤维细胞MRC5、低转移肺癌细胞95C和高转移肺癌细胞95D中分别鉴定到510、863和1108种磷酸化蛋白质,其中317种为3组所共有。该研究共鉴定到1268种磷酸化蛋白质上的7560个磷酸化位点,其中1130个为差异磷酸化位点,文献报道显示部分异常表达的激酶与癌症转移密切相关。通过生信对比分析发现,异常表达的磷酸化蛋白质主要与细胞侵袭、迁移和死亡等细胞迁移方面的功能有关。通过优化磷酸化肽富集策略,初步阐明了磷酸化蛋白质网络的异常与肺癌转移之间的相关性,该方法有望用于肺癌进展相关的磷酸化位点、磷酸化蛋白质及其信号通路研究。     

Down-regulation of Vinculin in Human Colorectal Carcinoma Identified by Proteomics Analysis

In the present study, we aimed to globally profile the proteins involved in colorectal carcinoma(CRC), in order to find clues to the pathological process of CRC. Pairs of malignant tissues and their adjacent healthy tissues from patients with colorectal cancer were subject to differential proteomics analysis. Two dimensional electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry(2-DE/MS) was used to identify differentially expressed proteins between pairs of tissue samples. A list of proteins relevant to the progression of colorectal tumor was identified by two dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE)-based proteomics approach. Among the identified proteins, vinculin was found to be remarkably down-regulated in colorectal carcinoma tissues. In addition, three phosphorylation modifications within the isolated vinculin were identified by in-depth liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) analysis. Our results provide a basis for further understanding the pathological significance of vinculin in the regulation of carcinogenesis, invasion and metastasis of colorectal tumors.     

Proteomics comparison of exosomes from serum and plasma between ultracentrifugation and polymer‐based precipitation kit methods

Exosomes are vesicles with sizes ranging from 30 to 150 nm. The analysis and detection of blood exosomes offers an effective route for cancer diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and therapeutic evaluation of diseases. Due to the difference in separation procedure, collection method and the usage of anticoagulants, serum and plasma samples show diversity test results. In order to evaluate the isolation effect of exosomes in serum and plasma samples, two commonly used exosomal isolation methods, ultracentrifugation and polymer‐based precipitation kit, were used, respectively. And the isolation effects were evaluated by comparing the composition and abundant of proteins from isolated exosomes based on MS‐based proteomics analysis. The results showed that the plasma exosomes extracted by ultracentrifugation identified more exosome biomarkers, and the concentrations of these biomarkers were higher than others. And plasma exosomes could be a better sample for blood‐based proteomics research of exosomes. It would be more useful for future targeted biomarker discovery.