Comprehensive proteomic analysis of human endometrial fluid aspirate.

The endometrial fluid is a noninvasive sample which contains numerous secreted proteins representative of endometrial function and reflects the state of the endometrium. In this study, we describe, for the first time, a comprehensive catalogue of proteins of the endometrial fluid during the secretory phase of the menstrual cycle. To achieve this objective, three different but complementary strategies were used: First, in-solution digestion followed by reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS); second, protein separation by denaturing one-dimensional electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) followed by HPLC-MS/MS analysis. Finally, two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) followed by MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. The combination of the three strategies led to the successful identification of 803 different proteins in the International Protein Index (IPI) human database (v3.48). An extensive description of the endometrial fluid proteome will help provide the basis for a better understanding of a number of diseases and processes, including endometriosis, endometrial cancer and embryo implantation. We believe that the thorough catalogue of proteins presented here can serve as a valuable reference for the study of embryo implantation and for future biomarker discovery involved in pathologic alterations of endometrial function.

Differential proteome profiles in E2F2-deficient T lymphocytes.

E2F transcription factors are important regulators of proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. We have previously shown that E2F2-/- mice develop late-onset autoimmune features, similar to systemic lupus erythematosus. E2F2-deficient T lymphocytes exhibit enhanced T cell receptor (TCR)-stimulated proliferation, which is presumably responsible for causing autoimmunity in E2F2-deficient mice. The comparison of E2F2-/- and wild-type T lymphocyte expression profiles by 2-DE followed by MS identification has revealed a set of deregulated proteins involved in TCR-mediated signaling, cell survival and stress responses. The deregulation of these proteins may account for the hyperproliferative phenotype that characterizes E2F2-/- T cells. Our work shows that proteomic analysis of gene-knockout strains can be a useful methodology to study the functional role of specific genes.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease proteomics.

PURPOSE: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an important cause of chronic liver injury that has gained concern in clinical hepatology. The principal aim of this study was to find differences in protein expression between patients with NAFLD and healthy controls. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Changes in protein expression of liver samples from each of the three groups of subjects, controls, non-alcoholic steatosis, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), were analyzed by DIGE combined with MALDI TOF/TOF analysis, a proteomic approach that allows to compare hundreds of proteins simultaneously. RESULTS: Forty-three proteins exhibiting significant changes (ratio ≥1.5, p<0.05) were characterized, 22 comparing steatosis samples versus control samples and 21 comparing NASH versus control samples. Ten of these proteins were further analyzed by Western blot in tissue samples to confirm the observed changes of protein expression using DIGE. The proteins validated were further tested in serum samples of different cohorts of patients. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Following this approach we identified two candidate markers, carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 and 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein, differentially expressed between control and NASH. This proteomics approach demonstrates that DIGE combined with MALDI TOF/TOF and Western blot analysis of tissue and serum samples is a useful approach to identify candidate markers associated with NAFLD, resulting in proteins whose level of expression can be correlated to a disease state.