News From Molecular And Cellular Proteomics

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;  Dentistry;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 07 Mar 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Tracking a Deteriorating Heart

Researchers have conducted a detailed molecular survey of how heart muscle proteins change over time in diseased tissue, revealing clues that may lead to earlier diagnosis of heart disease.

Despite great progress in reducing mortality, cardiomyopathies (diseases affecting heart muscle) remain one of the leading killers in the developed world. A big contributor to this mortality is that many patients only get diagnosed at later disease stages, limiting therapeutic options.

Tony Gramolini, Andrew Emili and their colleagues sought to obtain more insight into cardiomyopathy progression, so they performed a large-scale protein survey of mouse cardiac cells affected by a mutation that weakens the muscle. They compared protein profiles at 8, 16, and 24 weeks of both diseased and healthy animals.

The researchers noticed time-dependent changes in 593 proteins, around 40 of which were particularly strong. While the altered proteins affect a variety of biological pathways, an inability to maintain the proper calcium balance, leading to increased cell stress, was heavily affected. Restoring this balance might be a key to treating these heart conditions early on.

Corresponding authors:

Andrew Emili, Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research, University of Toronto, Ontario

Anthony O. Gramolini, Charles H. Best Institute, University of Toronto, Ontario

Understanding Our Saliva

Researchers have developed a novel technique to separate and analyze all the proteins found in human saliva, not just the soluble ones, providing an approach that may reveal protein markers for oral cancer and other disorders in the oral cavity.

Saliva contains an abundance of proteins that could be used to screen for diseases, particularly oral diseases. Until now, though, studies have only focused on the small subset of free-floating saliva proteins. Far more proteins are present inside of oral cells, and Timothy Griffin, Nelson Rhodus and colleagues developed a method, called three-step peptide fractionation, to look at those understudied proteins.

They analyzed saliva samples from four oral cancer patients and identified over 1000 human proteins, including many known cancer associated proteins. In addition, they separated out proteins from over 30 different bacteria, many of which have not been previously found in saliva, and several of which may also have possible cancer links.

The researchers note that the mortality rate for oral cancer has hardly declined over the past 30 years; their technique, providing the first description of using whole cells to identify the vast array of human and bacterial proteins in saliva, may help identify new markers for oral cancer progression.

Corresponding Authors:

Timothy Griffin, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Nelson Rhodus, Division of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with over 11,900 members in the United States and internationally. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, nonprofit research institutions and industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions.

Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Bethesda, Maryland, on the campus of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of science education at all levels, and promoting the diversity of individuals entering the scientific work force.

For more information about ASBMB, see the Society's Web site at http://www.asbmb.org/.

Source: Nick Zagorski
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology