Nitrated apolipoprotein AI/apolipoprotein AI ratio is increased in diabetic patients with coronary artery disease

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

Recent studies have suggested that determination of HDL function may be more informative than its concentration in predicting its protective role in coronary artery disease (CAD). Apolipoprotein AI (apoAI), the major protein of HDL, is nitrosylated in vivo to nitrated apoAI (NT-apoAI) that might cause dysfunction. We hypothesized that NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio might be associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) in CAD patients.

METHODS

We measured plasma NT-apoAI and apoAI levels in 777 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by ELISA. Further, we measured plasma cholesterol efflux potential in subjects with similar apoAI but different NT-apoAI levels.

RESULTS

We found that median NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio was significantly higher in diabetes mellitus (DM) (n = 327) versus non-diabetic patients (n = 450). Further analysis indicated that DM, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and C-reactive protein levels were independent predictors of higher NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio. There was negative correlation between NT-apoAI/apoAI and use of anti-platelet and lipid lowering drugs. The cholesterol efflux capacity of plasma from 67 individuals with differing NT-apoAI but similar apoAI levels from macrophages in vitro was negatively correlated with NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio is significantly associated with DM in this relatively large German cohort with CAD and may contribute to associated complications by reducing cholesterol efflux capacity.

Plasma Nitration of High-Density and Low-Density Lipoproteins in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Receiving Kidney Transplants

BACKGROUND

Functional abnormalities of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) could contribute to cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease patients. We measured a validated marker of HDL dysfunction, nitrated apolipoprotein A-I, in kidney transplant recipients to test the hypothesis that a functioning kidney transplant reduces serum nitrated apoA-I concentrations.

METHODS

Concentrations of nitrated apoA-I and apoB were measured using indirect sandwich ELISA assays on sera collected from each transplant subject before transplantation and at 1, 3, and 12 months after transplantation. Patients were excluded if they have history of diabetes, treatment with lipid-lowering medications or HIV protease inhibitors, prednisone dose > 15 mg/day, nephrotic range proteinuria, serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL, or active inflammatory disease. Sera from 18 transplanted patients were analyzed. Four subjects were excluded due to insufficient data. Twelve and eight patients had creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL at 3 and 12 months after transplantation, respectively. RESULTS. Nitrated apoA-I was significantly reduced at 12 months after transplantation (p = 0.039). The decrease in apoA-I nitration was associated with significant reduction in myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (p = 0.047). In contrast to apoA-I, nitrated apoB was not affected after kidney transplantation.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with well-functioning grafts had significant reduction in nitrated apoA-I 12 months after kidney transplantation. Further studies are needed in a large cohort to determine if nitrated apoA-I can be used as a valuable marker for cardiovascular risk stratification in chronic kidney disease.

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol efflux, nitration of apolipoprotein A-I, and endothelial function in obese women

Subjects at risk of atherosclerosis might have dysfunctional high-density lipoprotein (HDL) despite normal cholesterol content in the plasma. We considered whether the efflux of excess cellular cholesterol to HDL from obese subjects is associated with impaired arterial endothelial function, a biomarker of cardiovascular risk. A total of 54 overweight (body mass index [BMI] 25 to 29.9 kg/m(2)) or obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m(2)) women, aged 46 ± 11 years, were enrolled in a worksite wellness program. The HDL cholesterol averaged 57 ± 17 mg/dl and was inversely associated with the BMI (r = -0.419, p = 0.002). Endothelial function was assessed using brachial artery flow-mediated dilation. Cholesterol efflux from (3)H-cholesterol-labeled baby hamster kidney cells transfected with the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter 1 showed 8.2% to 22.5% cholesterol efflux within 18 hours when incubated with 1% serum and was positively correlated with brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (p <0.05), especially in the 34 subjects with BMI ≥30 kg/m(2) (r = 0.482, p = 0.004). This relation was independent of age, HDL or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in plasma, blood pressure, or insulin resistance on stepwise multiple regression analysis (β = 0.31, R(2) = 0.21, p = 0.007). Nitration of apolipoprotein A-I tyrosine residues (using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) was significantly greater in women with a BMI ≥30 kg/m(2) and the lowest cholesterol efflux than in women with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 kg/m(2) and the greatest cholesterol efflux (p = 0.01). In conclusion, we have shown that decreased cholesterol efflux by way of the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter 1 is associated with increased nitration of apolipoprotein A-I in HDL and is an independent predictor of impaired endothelial function in women with a BMI of ≥30 kg/m(2). This finding suggests that the functional measures of HDL might be better markers for cardiovascular risk than the HDL cholesterol levels in this population.

Relative quantitation of protein nitration by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using isotope-coded dimethyl labeling and chemoprecipitation

Protein nitration has been recognized as an important biomarker for nitroxidative stress associated with various diseases. While identification of protein targets for nitration is important, its quantitative profiling also is necessary to understand the biological impact of this low-abundance posttranslational modification. We have previously reported an efficient and straightforward enrichment method for nitropeptides to reduce sample complexity and permit unambiguous site-specific identifications by LC-MS analyses. This approach relies on two chemical derivatization steps: specifically reductive methylation of aliphatic amines and, then, conversion of nitrotyrosines to the corresponding aminotyrosines before their selective capture by a solid-phase reagent we introduced previously. Hence, the method inherently offers the opportunity for relative quantitation of nitropeptides by using isotopic variants of formaldehyde for reductive methylation. This simple method was tested via LC-MS analyses of differently N-methylated nitropeptides and nitroubiquitin as a model nitroprotein enriched from human serum albumin digest and from human plasma, respectively.

Selective chemoprecipitation and subsequent release of tagged species for the analysis of nitropeptides by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Tyrosine nitration is a low-abundance post-translational protein modification that requires appropriate enrichment techniques to enable proteomic analyses. We report a simple yet highly specific method to enrich nitropeptides by chemoprecipitation involving only two straightforward chemical modifications of the nitropeptides before capturing the obtained derivatives with a strategically designed solid-phase active ester reagent. Specifically, capping of the aliphatic amines in the peptides is done first by reductive methylation to preserve the charge state of peptides for electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis, followed by reduction of nitrotyrosines to the corresponding aminotyrosines. These peptides are then immobilized on the solid-phase active ester reagent, whereas other peptides carrying no free amino groups are separated from the immobilized species by thoroughly washing the beads from which the tagged peptide derivatives can easily be released by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis at room temperature. The benefits of selective enrichment from a matrix of unmodified peptides for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry are demonstrated on three synthetic nitropeptides that are nitrated fragments of biologically relevant proteins. Identification of several in vitro nitrated human plasma proteins, also implicated under various pathological processes, by database searches from the enriched and tagged tryptic nitropeptides is presented as a practical application. We also show that converting the nitro-group to the small 4-formylbenzoylamido tag does not significantly alter fragmentation properties upon collision-induced dissociation compared with those of the native nitropeptides, and at the same time this derivatization actually improves electron capture dissociation due to conversion of the electron-predator nitro-group to this novel tag.

The differentiating effect of glimepiride and glibenclamide on paraoxonase 1 and platelet-activating factor acetylohydrolase activity

AIMS

The present study was designed to examine the effect of sulphonylureas, glimepiride (GM) and glibenclamide (GB), on paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and platelet activating factor acetylohydrolase (PAF-AH) activity in normal and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced (50 mg/kg) diabetic rats.

MAIN METHODS

In treated groups, glimepiride (0.1 mg/kg) or glibenclamide (2 mg/kg) was given orally for 4 weeks. A PON1 and PAF-AH activity were estimated by spectrophotometric method.

KEY FINDINGS

Hyperglycemia was accompanied by a significant decrease in plasma PON1 activity toward paraoxon (P < 0.001) and phenyl acetate (P < 0.01) and increase in plasma PAF-AH activity (P < 0.01). In STZ-induced diabetic rats the administration of both GM and GB had no effect on plasma PON1 activity but reversed elevated plasma PAF-AH activity (GM: P < 0.05, GB: P < 0.01). In non-diabetic rats after either GM or GB administration the decreased PON1 activity in the plasma was observed (GM: P < 0.001, GB: P < 0.05), but plasma PAF-AH activity remained unchanged. Both GM and GB had no effect on total plasma antioxidant capacity in diabetic and control treated groups. Additionally, both drugs increased PON1 activity toward phenyl acetate in the liver, in diabetic rats (GM: P < 0.05, GB:ns) as well as in non-diabetic rats (GM: P < 0.001, GB: P < 0.001), and reduced lipid peroxidation in the liver.

SIGNIFICANCE

These results demonstrate that in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats as well as in normal rats glimepiride and glibenclamide have no beneficial effects on circulating PON1 and PAF-AH activities, but both drugs increase PON1 activity in the liver.