Specific mixing facilitates the comparative quantification of phosphorylation sites with significant dysregulations

6-Shogaol Inhibits Oxidative Stress-Induced Rat Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis by Regulating OXR1-p53 Axis

Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is closely related to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, and oxidative stress is an important cause of VSMCs' death. Inhibiting VSMCs apoptosis is an effective preventive strategy in slowing down the development of cardiovascular disease, especially for atherosclerosis. In this study, we found that oxidation resistance protein 1 (OXR1), a crucial participator for responding to oxidative stress, could modulate the expression of p53, the key regulator of cell apoptosis. Our results revealed that oxidative stress promoted VSMCs apoptosis by overexpression of the OXR1-p53 axis, and 6-shogaol (6S), a major biologically active compound in ginger, could effectively attenuate cell death by preventing the upregulated expression of the OXR1-p53 axis. Quantitative proteomics analysis revealed that the degradation of p53 mediated by OXR1 might be related to the enhanced assembly of SCF ubiquitin ligase complexes, which is reported to closely relate to the modification of ubiquitination or neddylation and subsequent degradation of p53.

Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Protective Effects of Yiqi Fumai Lyophilized Injection on Chronic Heart Failure by Improving Myocardial Energy Metabolism

Yiqi Fumai lyophilized injection (YQFM) is the recombination of Sheng mai san (SMS).YQFM has been applied clinically to efficaciously and safely treat chronic heart failure (CHF). However, the mechanism of YQFM is still not fully elucidated. The purpose of our study was to investigate the protective mechanism of YQFM against abdominal aortic coarctation (AAC) in rats by proteomic methods. After YQFM treatment, the cardiac function were obviously meliorated. One hundred and fifty-seven important differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified, including 109 in model rat compared with that in control rat (M:C) and 48 in YQFM-treated rat compared with that in model rat (T:M) by iTRAQ technology to analyze the proteomic characteristics of heart tissue. Bioinformatics analysis showed that DEPs was mainly involved in the body’s energy metabolism and was closely related to oxidative phosphorylation. YQFM had also displayed efficient mitochondrial dysfunction alleviation properties in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced cardiomyocyte damage by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Metabolic assay, and Mitotracker staining. What’s more, the levels of total cardiomyocyte apoptosis were markedly reduced following YQFM treatment. Furthermore, Western blot analysis showed that the expressions of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor co-activator-1α(PGC-1α) (p < 0.01 or p < 0.001), perixisome proliferation-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-α) (p < 0.001)and retinoid X receptor alpha (RXR-α) were upregulated (p < 0.001), PGC-1α as well as its downstream effectors were also found to be upregulated in cardiomyocytes after YQFM treatment(p < 0.001).These results provided evidence that YQFM could enhance mitochondrial function of cardiomyocytes to play a role in the treatment of CHF by regulating mitochondrial biogenesis-related proteins.

Proteomic analysis reveals the protective effects of emodin on severe acute pancreatitis induced lung injury by inhibiting neutrophil proteases activity

Acute lung injury (ALI) is the most common remote organ complication induced by severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Almost 60-70% SAP-induced deaths are caused by ALI. Efficient clinical therapeutic strategy for SAP-induced ALI is still lacking. In this study, we demonstrate that Emodin (EMO) can significantly alleviate SAP-induced ALI. We investigate the therapeutic mechanisms of EMO by proteomic analysis, which indicates that EMO protects lung tissue against SAP-ALI by negative regulation of endopeptidase activity and inhibition of collagen-containing extracellular matrix degradation. Protein-protein interaction analysis showed Lamc2, Serpina1 and Serpinb1 play important roles in the above pathways. This study elucidates the possible mechanism and suggests the candidacy of EMO in the clinical treatment of SAP-ALI. SIGNIFICANCE: ALI is a major leading cause of death in SAP. DEX is the standard of care drug for treatment of SAP-ALI, but often associated with inevitable side effects. In the present study, EMO was demonstrated to greatly alleviate the lung injury induced by SAP. Through proteomic analysis, the recovered protein profiles in response to EMO treatment in SAP-ALI rat models was obtained, among which Lamc2, Serpina1 and Serpinb1 were discovered as crucial regulatory proteins in SAP-ALI disease. Our study provides the underlying mechanisms and novel targets of EMO protective effect against SAP-ALI.

Determination of the cleavage site of enterovirus 71 VP0 and the effect of this cleavage on viral infectivity and assembly

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a major public health concern, especially among infants and young children. The primary pathogen of HFMD is enterovirus 71 (EV71), whose capsid assembly mechanism including capsid protein processing has been widely studied. However, some of its mechanisms remain unclear, such as the VP0 cleavage. This study aimed to identify the cleavage site of the EV71 VP0 capsid protein and to elucidate the effects of EV71 VP0 cleavage on viral infectivity and assembly. A mass spectrometry analysis indicated that the cleavage site of EV71 VP0 is located between residues Lys69 and Ser70. To analyze the importance of either residue to cleavage, we designed single mutations of Lys69, Ser70 and double mutations respectively and implemented these genomes to encapsulation. The results indicated that Ser70 is more important for VP0 cleavage and EV71 infectivity. In addition, exogenous expression of EV71 protease 2A and 3C was used to verify whether they play roles in VP0 cleavage. Analyses also showed that none of them participate in this process. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms of EV71 capsid maturation, which may be a potential target to improve the productivity and immunogenicity of EV71 vaccines.