Protein Microarrays in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Analysis of Protein-Protein Interactions by Protein Microarrays

The analysis of the proteome and the interactome would be useful for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of several disorders, allowing the identification of potential specific markers for early diagnosis and prognosis, as well as potential targets of intervention. Among different proteomic approaches, high-density protein microarrays have become an interesting tool for the screening of protein-protein interactions and the interactome definition of disease-associated dysregulated proteins. This information might contribute to the identification of altered signaling pathways and protein functions involved in the pathogenesis of a disease. Remarkably, protein microarrays have been already satisfactorily employed for the study of protein-protein interactions in cancer, allergy, or neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we describe the utilization of recombinant protein microarrays for the identification of protein-protein interactions to help in the definition of disease-specific dysregulated interactomes.

Identification of Alzheimer's Disease Autoantibodies and Their Target Biomarkers by Phage Microarrays

The characterization of the humoral response in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients might aid in detecting the disease at early stages. We have combined phage display and protein microarrays to identify AD autoantibodies and their target biomarkers. After enrichment of the T7 phage display libraries from AD and healthy brain tissue mRNA in AD-specific phages, 1536 monoclonal phages were printed on microarrays to probe them with 8 AD and 8 healthy control sera. A total of 57 phages showed higher seroreactivity in AD. In total, 13 out of the 44 unique sequences displayed on the phages were selected for validation using 68 AD and 52 healthy control sera. Peptides from Anthrax toxin receptor 1, Nuclear protein 1, Glycogen phosphorylase, and Olfactory receptor 8J1 expressed in bacteria as HaloTag fusion proteins showed a statistically significant ability to discriminate between AD patients and controls. The identified panel of AD autoantibodies might provide new insights into the blood-based diagnosis of the disease.