Comparative Proteomic Analysis of Extracellular Proteins Reveals Secretion of T-Kininogen from Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Response to Incubation with S-Enantiomer of Propranolol

Comparative label-free mass spectrometric analysis of temporal changes in the skeletal muscle proteome after impact trauma in rats

Proteomics offers the opportunity to identify and quantify many proteins and to explore how they correlate and interact with each other in biological networks. This study aimed to characterize changes in the muscle proteome during the destruction, repair, and early-remodeling phases after impact trauma in male Wistar rats. Muscle tissue was collected from uninjured control rats and rats that were euthanized between 6 h and 14 days after impact injury. Muscle tissue was analyzed using unbiased, data-independent acquisition LC-MS/MS. We identified 770 reviewed proteins in the muscle tissue, 296 of which were differentially abundant between the control and injury groups (P ≤ 0.05). Around 50 proteins showed large differences (≥10-fold) or a distinct pattern of abundance after injury. These included proteins that have not been identified previously in injured muscle, such as ferritin light chain 1, fibrinogen γ-chain, fibrinogen β-chain, osteolectin, murinoglobulin-1, T-kininogen 2, calcium-regulated heat-stable protein 1, macrophage-capping protein, retinoid-inducible serine carboxypeptidase, ADP-ribosylation factor 4, Thy-1 membrane glycoprotein, and ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 1. Some proteins increased between 6 h and 14 days, whereas other proteins increased in a more delayed pattern at 7 days after injury. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that various biological processes, including regulation of blood coagulation, fibrinolysis, regulation of wound healing, tissue regeneration, acute inflammatory response, and negative regulation of the immune effector process, were enriched in injured muscle tissue. This study advances the understanding of early muscle healing after muscle injury and lays a foundation for future mechanistic studies on interventions to treat muscle injury.

Combination of β Adrenergic Receptor Block and Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibition Diminished the Angiotensin II-Induced Vasoconstriction and Increased Bradykinin-Induced Vasodilation in Hypertension

In hypertension, the combination therapy is frequently used to obtain a better therapeutic effect and reduce adverse effects. One effective combination is with inhibitors and β-blockers of renin–angiotensin system. Although the mechanisms of action of each drug are already known, the antihypertensive mechanism is more complex and therefore the combined treatment mechanism is unclear. Specifically, the effect of the treatments of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or AT₁ receptor antagonist with β-blocker on the angiotensin II and bradykinin reactivity has not been studied. For this reason, we evaluated the interaction between propranolol and captopril or losartan on vascular reactivity to bradykinin and angiotensin II in spontaneously hypertensive rat. We constructed concentration–response curves to angiotensin II and bradykinin after treatment of SHR with propranolol–captopril or propranolol–losartan by using rat aortic rings. While losartan or captopril with propranolol potentiated bradykinin-induced vasodilation effect, the propranolol–losartan interaction decreased the angiotensin II-induced vasoconstriction. In addition, the combinations did not reduce the heart rate significantly. These results suggest that the combined therapy decreased blood pressure to normotensive values and showed less effect for angiotensin II and greater effect for bradykinin than monotherapy which could contribute in the antihypertensive effect.

Analysis of differential proteomes of induced pluripotent stem cells by protein-based reprogramming of fibroblasts

The recent generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells represents a novel opportunity to complement embryonic stem (ES) cell-based approaches. iPS cells can be generated by viral transduction of specific transcription factors, but there is a potential risk of tumorigenicity by random retroviral integration. We have generated novel iPS (sFB-protein-iPS) cells from murine dermal fibroblasts (FVB-sFB) that have ES cell characteristics, using ES cell-derived cell extracts instead of performing viral transduction. Notably, only cell extracts from an ES cell line (C57-mES) on the C57/BL6 background generated iPS cells in our protocol-not an ES cell line (E14-mES) on the 129 background. Hypothesizing that determining the differences in these 2 mES cell lines will provide vital insight into the reprogramming machinery, we performed proteomic and global gene expression analysis by iTRAQ and mRNA microarray, respectively. We observed that pluripotent ES cells and ES cell extract-derived iPS cells had differential proteomes and global gene expression patterns. Notably, reprogramming-competent C57-mES cells highly expressed proteins that regulate protein synthesis and metabolism, compared with reprogramming-incompetent 129-mES cells, suggesting that there is a threshold that protein synthetic machinery must exceed to initiate reprogramming.

Metabolomic profiling of cellular responses to carvedilol enantiomers in vascular smooth muscle cells

Carvedilol is a non-selective β-blocker indicated in the treatment of hypertension and heart failure. Although the differential pharmacological effects of individual Carvedilol enantiomer is supported by preceding studies, the cellular response to each enantiomer is not well understood. Here we report the use of GC-MS metabolomic profiling to study the effects of Carvedilol enantiomers on vascular smooth muscle cells (A7r5) and to shed new light on molecular events underlying Carvedilol treatment. The metabolic analysis revealed alternations in the levels of 8 intracellular metabolites and 5 secreted metabolites in A7r5 cells incubated separately with S- and R-Carvedilol. Principal component analysis of the metabolite data demonstrated the characteristic metabolic signatures in S- and R-Carvedilol-treated cells. A panel of metabolites, including L-serine, L-threonine, 5-oxoproline, myristic acid, palmitic acid and inositol are closely correlated to the vascular smooth muscle contraction. Our findings reveal the differentiating metabolites for A7r5 cells incubated with individual enantiomer of Carvedilol, which opens new perspectives to employ metabolic profiling platform to study chiral drug-cell interactions and aid their incorporation into future improvement of β-blocker therapy.

Proteomic analysis of HBV-associated HCC: insights on mechanisms of disease onset and biomarker discovery

The development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be considered as an end-stage outcome of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Early prognostic markers are needed to allow effective treatments and prevent HCC from developing. Proteomics analysis has been used to identify markers from clinical samples from HCC patients. This approach can be further improved by identifying early biomarkers before the onset of HCC. One way would be to use the cell-based HBV replication system, which is reflective of the early stage of virus infection and thus secreted proteins identified at this stage may have relevance in HCC prognosis. In this review, we focus the discussion on the current status of proteomics analysis of cellular proteins and HCC biomarker identification, with a special highlight on the potential of the cell-based HBV replication system for the identification of prognostic HCC biomarkers.

Protein profile in HBx transfected cells: a comparative iTRAQ-coupled 2D LC-MS/MS analysis

The x protein of HBV (HBx) has been involved in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with a possible link to individual genotypes. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. In this study, we aim to identify the HBx-induced protein profile in HepG2 cells by LC-MS/MS proteomics analysis. Our results indicated that proteins were differentially expressed in HepG2 cells transfected by HBx of various genotypes. Proteins associated with cytoskeleton were found to be either up-regulated (MACF1, HMGB1, Annexin A2) or down-regulated (Lamin A/C). These may in turn result in the decrease of focal adhesion and increase of cell migration in response to HBx. Levels of other cellular proteins with reported impact on the function of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and cell migration, including Ca(2+)-binding proteins (S100A11, S100A6, and S100A4) and proteasome protein (PSMA3), were affected by HBx. The differential protein profile identified in this study was also supported by our functional assay which indicated that cell migration was enhanced by HBx. Our preliminary study provided a new platform to establish a comprehensive cellular protein profile by LC-MS/MS proteomics analysis. Further downstream functional assays, including our reported cell migration assay, should provide new insights in the association between HCC and HBx.

Detection of differential proteomes of human beta-cells during islet-like differentiation using iTRAQ labeling

A human beta-cell line, RNAKT-15, was recently established from human pancreatic islets, whereby its differentiation into islet-like beta-cells (islet-like RNAKT-15) increased its expression of insulin 2-fold compared with RNAKT-15 cells. To characterize the differentiation of RNAKT-15 cells into islet-like RNAKT-15, microarray and quantitative proteomics were performed. Our analysis of differential proteomic and mRNA expression has resulted in a greater understanding of the molecular functions that are involved in beta-cell differentiation and insulin synthesis and release.

Expanding proteomics into the analysis of chiral drugs

The chiralities of chiral drugs have been investigated extensively with the purpose of enlightening the role of chirality in drug action. Proteomics, though in its infancy, has recently emerged as the foremost technology in drug development research, possessing the advantage of providing more useful information about an organism than genomics, as it directly addresses the level of genome products and their interactions. In this review, we will discuss the background of chiral drug investigation from which contemporary drug chirality research has emerged, the techniques involved in proteomics technology, the application of proteomics in this exciting area, and the perspectives in future applications of this field.