Project description:The present study describes a novel xenograft-based biomarker discovery platform and proves its usefulness in the discovery of novel serum markers for prostate cancer (PCa). By immunizing immuno-competent mice with serum from nude mice bearing PCa xenografts, an antibody response against xenograft-derived antigens was elicited. By probing protein microarrays with serum from immunized mice, several PCa-derived antigens were identified, of which a subset was successfully retrieved in serum from mice bearing PCa xenografts and validated in human serum samples of PCa patients. In conclusion, this novel method allows for the identification of low abundant cancer-derived serum proteins, circumventing dynamic range and host-response issues in standard patient cohort proteomics comparisons.
Project description:The present study describes a novel xenograft-based biomarker discovery platform and proves its usefulness in the discovery of novel serum markers for prostate cancer (PCa). By immunizing immuno-competent mice with serum from nude mice bearing PCa xenografts, an antibody response against xenograft-derived antigens was elicited. By probing protein microarrays with serum from immunized mice, several PCa-derived antigens were identified, of which a subset was successfully retrieved in serum from mice bearing PCa xenografts and validated in human serum samples of PCa patients. In conclusion, this novel method allows for the identification of low abundant cancer-derived serum proteins, circumventing dynamic range and host-response issues in standard patient cohort proteomics comparisons. To perform a large-scale identification of antibodies generated against human PCa-derived proteins in the serum of immunized mice, sera from mice immunized with either depleted serum, full serum or both from PC346 and PC339-bearing mice as well as preimmune serum and serum from mice immunized with normal mouse serum were incubated onto ProtoArrays. These ProtoArrays contain approximately 8,000 partial and full-length human proteins, expressed as N-terminal glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins. To detect antibodies bound to spotted proteins, ProtoArrays were developed using a fluorescent labeled secondary antibody. Before being used for immunization, serum from xenografted mice was not treated (full) or depleted for most abundant proteins (depleted). Two arrays were hybridized with pre-immune serum and one array with serum from an immune competent mouse that was immunized with serum from a nude mouse. Six arrays were performed using serum from immune competent mice that were immunized with serum from xenograft-bearing nude mice.
Project description:S100A8 and S100A9 (aliases MRP8 and MRP14) are highly expressed in neutrophils and monocytes and are classified as damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules or alarm molecules. However, the role of S100A8/A9 in aortic dissection has not been reported. In the present study, by employing an unbiased proteomics approach and RNA sequencing analysis , we found that the protein expression of calcium binding proteins S100A8/A9 were upregulated in the aorta and serum of TAAAD patients and also in a mouse model.
Project description:Reliable non-invasive tools to diagnose at risk metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) are urgently needed to improve management. We developed a risk stratification score incorporating proteomics-derived serum markers with clinical variables to identify high risk MASH patients (NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) >4 and fibrosis score >2). In this three-phase proteomic study of biopsy-proven metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic fatty liver disease (MASLD), we first developed a multi-protein predictor for discriminating NAS>4 based on SOMAscan proteomics quantifying 1,305 serum proteins from 57 US patients. Four key predictor proteins were verified by ELISA in the expanded US cohort (N=168), and enhanced by adding clinical variables to create the 9-feature MASH Dx Score which predicted MASH and also high risk MASH (F2+). The MASH Dx Score was validated in two independent, external cohorts from Germany (N=139) and Brazil (N=177). The discovery phase identified a 6-protein classifier that achieved an AUC of 0.93 for identifying MASH. Significant elevation of four proteins (THBS2, GDF15, SELE, IGFBP7) was verified by ELISA in the expanded discovery and independently in the two external cohorts. MASH Dx Score incorporated these proteins with established MASH risk factors (age, BMI, ALT, diabetes, hypertension) to achieve good discrimination between MASH and MASLD without MASH (AUC:0.87- discovery; 0.83- pooled external validation cohorts), with similar performance when evaluating high risk MASH F2-4 (vs. MASH F0-1 and MASLD without MASH). The MASH Dx Score offers the first reliable non-invasive approach combining novel, biologically plausible ELISA-based fibrosis markers and clinical parameters to detect high risk MASH in patient cohorts from the US, Brasil and Europe.
Project description:To elucidate the molecular mechanism behind the anti-NAFLD effect of HDCA, we screened for potential HDCA binding proteins using biotin-labeled HDCA and HuProt human proteome microarray.
Project description:To elucidate the molecular mechanism of MOTS-c against NASH progression, we screened for potential MOTS-c binding proteins using biotin-labeled MOTS-c and HuProt human proteome microarray.
Project description:Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common form of cardiomyopathy and main indication for heart transplantation in children. Therapies specific to pediatric DCM remains limited due to lack of a disease model. Our previous study showed that treatment of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) with non-failing or DCM pediatric patient serum activates the fetal gene program (FGP). Here we show that serum treatment with Proteinase K prevents activation of the FGP, whereas RNase treatment exacerbates it, suggesting that circulating proteins, but not circulating microRNAs, promote these pathological changes. Evaluation of the protein secretome showed that midkine (MDK) is up-regulated in DCM serum, and NRVM treatment with MDK activates the FGP. Changes in gene expression in serum-treated NRVMs, evaluated by next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), indicates extracellular matrix remodeling and focal adhesion pathways are upregulated in pediatric DCM serum and serum-treated NRVMs, suggesting alterations in cellular stiffness. Cellular stiffness was evaluated by Atomic Force Microscopy, which showed an increase in stiffness in DCM serum-treated NRVMs. Of the proteins increased in DCM sera, secreted frizzled related protein 1 (sFRP1) was a potential candidate for the increase in cellular stiffness, and sFRP1 treatment of NRVMs recapitulated the increase in cellular stiffness observed in response to DCM-serum treatment. Our results show that serum circulating proteins promote pathological changes in gene expression and cellular stiffness, and circulating miRNAs are protective against pathological changes.