Phosphorylation of ß-catenin at Serine552 correlates with invasion and recurrence of non-functioning pituitary neuroendocrine tumours.

Non-functioning pituitary tumours (NF-PitNETs) are common intracranial benign neoplasms that can exhibit aggressive behaviour by invading neighbouring structures and, in some cases, have multiple recurrences. Despite resulting in severe co-morbidities, no predictive biomarkers of recurrence have been identified for NF-PitNETs. In this study we have used high-throughput mass spectrometry-based analysis to examine the phosphorylation pattern of different subsets of NF-PitNETs. Based on histopathological, radiological, surgical and clinical features, we have grouped NF-PitNETs into non-invasive, invasive, and recurrent disease groups. Tumour recurrence was determined based on regular clinical and radiological data of patients for a mean follow-up of 10 years (SD ± 5.4 years). Phosphoproteomic analyses identified a unique phosphopeptide enrichment pattern which correlates with disease recurrence. Candidate phosphorylated proteins were validated in a large cohort of NF-PitNET patients by western blot and immunohistochemistry. We identified a cluster of 22 phosphopeptides upregulated in recurrent NF-PitNETs compared to non-invasive and invasive subgroups. We reveal significant phosphorylation of the ß-catenin at Ser552 in recurrent and invasive NF-PitNETs, compared to non-invasive/non-recurrent NF-PitNET subgroup. Moreover, ß-catenin pSer552 correlates with the recurrence free survival among 200 patients with NF-PitNET. Together, our results suggest that the phosphorylation status of ß-catenin at Ser552 could act as potential biomarker of tumour recurrence in NF-PitNETs.

Rifampicin-Mediated Metabolic Changes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is considered to be a devastating pathogen worldwide, affecting millions of people globally. Several drugs targeting distinct pathways are utilized for the treatment of tuberculosis. Despite the monumental efforts being directed at the discovery of drugs for Mtb, the pathogen has also developed mechanisms to evade the drug action and host processes. Rifampicin was an early anti-tuberculosis drug, and is still being used as the first line of treatment. This study was carried out in order to characterize the in-depth rifampicin-mediated metabolic changes in Mtb, facilitating a better understanding of the physiological processes based on the metabolic pathways and predicted protein interactors associated with the dysregulated metabolome. Although there are various metabolomic studies that have been carried out on rifampicin mutants, this is the first study that reports a large number of significantly altered metabolites in wild type Mtb upon rifampicin treatment. In this study, a total of 173 metabolites, associated with pyrimidine, purine, arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan metabolic pathways, were significantly altered by rifampicin. The predicted host protein interactors of the rifampicin-dysregulated Mtb metabolome were implicated in transcription, inflammation, apoptosis, proteolysis, and DNA replication. Further, tricarboxylic acidcycle metabolites, arginine, and phosphoenolpyruvate were validated by multiple-reaction monitoring. This study provides a comprehensive list of altered metabolites that serves as a basis for understanding the rifampicin-mediated metabolic changes, and associated functional processes, in Mtb, which holds therapeutic potential for the treatment of Mtb.

Metabolite Dysregulation by Pranlukast in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been infecting millions of people worldwide over the years, causing tuberculosis. Drugs targeting distinct cellular mechanisms including synthesis of the cell wall, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in Mtb are currently being used for the treatment of TB. Although extensive research is being carried out at the molecular level in the infected host and pathogen, the identification of suitable drug targets and drugs remains under explored. Pranlukast, an allosteric inhibitor of MtArgJ (Mtb ornithine acetyltransferase) has previously been shown to inhibit the survival and virulence of Mtb. The main objective of this study was to identify the altered metabolic pathways and biological processes associated with the differentially expressed metabolites by PRK in Mtb. Here in this study, metabolomics was carried out using an LC-MS/MS-based approach. Collectively, 50 metabolites were identified to be differentially expressed with a significant p-value through a global metabolomic approach using a high-resolution mass spectrometer. Metabolites downstream of argJ were downregulated in the arginine biosynthetic pathway following pranlukast treatment. Predicted human protein interactors of pranlukast-treated Mtb metabolome were identified in association with autophagy, inflammation, DNA repair, and other immune-related processes. Further metabolites including N-acetylglutamate, argininosuccinate, L-arginine, succinate, ergothioneine, and L-phenylalanine were validated by multiple reaction monitoring, a targeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach. This study facilitates the understanding of pranlukast-mediated metabolic changes in Mtb and holds the potential to identify novel therapeutic approaches using metabolic pathways in Mtb.

Targeting amino acid metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for developing inhibitors to curtail its survival.

Tuberculosis caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), continues to remain one of the most devastating infectious diseases afflicting humans. Although there are several drugs for treating tuberculosis available currently, the emergence of the drug resistant forms of this pathogen has made its treatment and eradication a challenging task. While the replication machinery, protein synthesis and cell wall biogenesis of Mtb have been targeted often for anti-tubercular drug development a number of essential metabolic pathways crucial to its survival have received relatively less attention. In this context a number of amino acid biosynthesis pathways have recently been shown to be essential for the survival and pathogenesis of Mtb. Many of these pathways and or their key enzymes homologs are absent in humans hence they could be harnessed for anti-tubercular drug development. In this review, we describe comprehensively the amino acid metabolic pathways essential in Mtb and the key enzymes involved therein that are being investigated for developing inhibitors that compromise the survival and pathogenesis caused by this pathogen.

Proteomic Analysis of the Human Anterior Pituitary Gland.

The pituitary function is regulated by a complex system involving the hypothalamus and biological networks within the pituitary. Although the hormones secreted from the pituitary have been well studied, comprehensive analyses of the pituitary proteome are limited. Pituitary proteomics is a field of postgenomic research that is crucial to understand human health and pituitary diseases. In this context, we report here a systematic proteomic profiling of human anterior pituitary gland (adenohypophysis) using high-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry. A total of 2164 proteins were identified in this study, of which 105 proteins were identified for the first time compared with high-throughput proteomic-based studies from human pituitary glands. In addition, we identified 480 proteins with secretory potential and 187 N-terminally acetylated proteins. These are the first region-specific data that could serve as a vital resource for further investigations on the physiological role of the human anterior pituitary glands and the proteins secreted by them. We anticipate that the identification of previously unknown proteins in the present study will accelerate biomedical research to decipher their role in functioning of the human anterior pituitary gland and associated human diseases.

"Omics" of Food-Borne Gastroenteritis: Global Proteomic and Mutagenic Analysis of Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis.

Salmonella Enteritidis causes food-borne gastroenteritis by the two type three secretion systems (TTSS). TTSS-1 mediates invasion through intestinal lining, and TTSS-2 facilitates phagocytic survival. The pathogens' ability to infect effectively under TTSS-1-deficient background in host's phagocytes is poorly understood. Therefore, pathobiological understanding of TTSS-1-defective nontyphoidal Salmonellosis is highly important. We performed a comparative global proteomic analysis of the isogenic TTSS-1 mutant of Salmonella Enteritidis (M1511) and its wild-type isolate P125109. Our results showed 43 proteins were differentially expressed. Functional annotation further revealed that differentially expressed proteins belong to pathogenesis, tRNA and ncRNA metabolic processes. Three proteins, tryptophan subunit alpha chain, citrate lyase subunit alpha, and hypothetical protein 3202, were selected for in vitro analysis based on their functional annotations. Deletion mutants generated for the above proteins in the M1511 strain showed reduced intracellular survival inside macrophages in vitro. In sum, this study provides mass spectrometry-based evidence for seven hypothetical proteins, which will be subject of future investigations. Our study identifies proteins influencing virulence of Salmonella in the host. The study complements and further strengthens previously published research on proteins involved in enteropathogenesis of Salmonella and extends their role in noninvasive Salmonellosis.

Integrating transcriptomic and proteomic data for accurate assembly and annotation of genomes.

Complementing genome sequence with deep transcriptome and proteome data could enable more accurate assembly and annotation of newly sequenced genomes. Here, we provide a proof-of-concept of an integrated approach for analysis of the genome and proteome of Anopheles stephensi, which is one of the most important vectors of the malaria parasite. To achieve broad coverage of genes, we carried out transcriptome sequencing and deep proteome profiling of multiple anatomically distinct sites. Based on transcriptomic data alone, we identified and corrected 535 events of incomplete genome assembly involving 1196 scaffolds and 868 protein-coding gene models. This proteogenomic approach enabled us to add 365 genes that were missed during genome annotation and identify 917 gene correction events through discovery of 151 novel exons, 297 protein extensions, 231 exon extensions, 192 novel protein start sites, 19 novel translational frames, 28 events of joining of exons, and 76 events of joining of adjacent genes as a single gene. Incorporation of proteomic evidence allowed us to change the designation of more than 87 predicted "noncoding RNAs" to conventional mRNAs coded by protein-coding genes. Importantly, extension of the newly corrected genome assemblies and gene models to 15 other newly assembled Anopheline genomes led to the discovery of a large number of apparent discrepancies in assembly and annotation of these genomes. Our data provide a framework for how future genome sequencing efforts should incorporate transcriptomic and proteomic analysis in combination with simultaneous manual curation to achieve near complete assembly and accurate annotation of genomes.

Characterization of human pineal gland proteome.

The pineal gland is a neuroendocrine gland located at the center of the brain. It is known to regulate various physiological functions in the body through secretion of the neurohormone melatonin. Comprehensive characterization of the human pineal gland proteome has not been undertaken to date. We employed a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based approach to characterize the proteome of the human pineal gland. A total of 5874 proteins were identified from the human pineal gland in this study. Of these, 5820 proteins were identified from the human pineal gland for the first time. Interestingly, 1136 proteins from the human pineal gland were found to contain a signal peptide domain, which indicates the secretory nature of these proteins. An unbiased global proteomic profile of this biomedically important organ should benefit molecular research to unravel the role of the pineal gland in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.

A pathway map of glutamate metabolism.

Glutamate metabolism plays a vital role in biosynthesis of nucleic acids and proteins. It is also associated with a number of different stress responses. Deficiency of enzymes involved in glutamate metabolism is associated with various disorders including gyrate atrophy, hyperammonemia, hemolytic anemia, γ-hydoxybutyric aciduria and 5-oxoprolinuria. Here, we present a pathway map of glutamate metabolism representing metabolic intermediates in the pathway, 107 regulator molecules, 9 interactors and 3 types of post-translational modifications. This pathway map provides detailed information about enzyme regulation, protein-enzyme interactions, post-translational modifications of enzymes and disorders due to enzyme deficiency. The information included in the map was based on published experimental evidence reported from mammalian systems.

Characterization of host response to Cryptococcus neoformans through quantitative proteomic analysis of cryptococcal meningitis co-infected with HIV.

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common opportunistic fungal infection causing morbidity and mortality (>60%) in HIV-associated immunocompromised individuals caused by Cryptococcus neoformans. Molecular mechanisms of cryptococcal infection in brain have been studied using experimental animal models and cell lines. There are limited studies for the molecular understanding of cryptococcal meningitis in human brain. The proteins involved in the process of invasion and infection in human brain still remains obscure. To this end we carried out mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics of frontal lobe brain tissues from cryptococcal meningitis patients and controls to identify host proteins that are associated with the pathogenesis of cryptococcal meningitis. We identified 317 proteins to be differentially expressed (≥2-fold) from a total of 3423 human proteins. We found proteins involved in immune response and signal transduction to be differentially expressed in response to cryptococcal infection in human brain. Immune response proteins including complement factors, major histocompatibility proteins, proteins previously known to be involved in fungal invasion to brain such as caveolin 1 and actin were identified to be differentially expressed in cryptococcal meningitis brain tissues co-infected with HIV. We also validated the expression status of 5 proteins using immunohistochemistry. Overexpression of major histocompatibility complexes, class I, B (HLA-B), actin alpha 2 smooth muscle aorta (ACTA2) and caveolin 1 (CAV1) and downregulation of peripheral myelin protein 2 (PMP2) and alpha crystallin B chain (CRYAB) in cryptococcal meningitis were confirmed by IHC-based validation experiments. This study provides the brain proteome profile of cryptococcal meningitis co-infected with HIV for a better understanding of the host response associated with the disease.

Host response profile of human brain proteome in toxoplasma encephalitis co-infected with HIV.

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma encephalitis is caused by the opportunistic protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Primary infection with T. gondii in immunocompetent individuals remains largely asymptomatic. In contrast, in immunocompromised individuals, reactivation of the parasite results in severe complications and mortality. Molecular changes at the protein level in the host central nervous system and proteins associated with pathogenesis of toxoplasma encephalitis are largely unexplored. We used a global quantitative proteomic strategy to identify differentially regulated proteins and affected molecular networks in the human host during T. gondii infection with HIV co-infection. RESULTS: We identified 3,496 proteins out of which 607 proteins were differentially expressed (≥1.5-fold) when frontal lobe of the brain from patients diagnosed with toxoplasma encephalitis was compared to control brain tissues. We validated differential expression of 3 proteins through immunohistochemistry, which was confirmed to be consistent with mass spectrometry analysis. Pathway analysis of differentially expressed proteins indicated deregulation of several pathways involved in antigen processing, immune response, neuronal growth, neurotransmitter transport and energy metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: Global quantitative proteomic approach adopted in this study generated a comparative proteome profile of brain tissues from toxoplasma encephalitis patients co-infected with HIV. Differentially expressed proteins include previously reported and several new proteins in the context of T. gondii and HIV infection, which can be further investigated. Molecular pathways identified to be associated with the disease should enhance our understanding of pathogenesis in toxoplasma encephalitis.

A draft map of the human proteome.

The availability of human genome sequence has transformed biomedical research over the past decade. However, an equivalent map for the human proteome with direct measurements of proteins and peptides does not exist yet. Here we present a draft map of the human proteome using high-resolution Fourier-transform mass spectrometry. In-depth proteomic profiling of 30 histologically normal human samples, including 17 adult tissues, 7 fetal tissues and 6 purified primary haematopoietic cells, resulted in identification of proteins encoded by 17,294 genes accounting for approximately 84% of the total annotated protein-coding genes in humans. A unique and comprehensive strategy for proteogenomic analysis enabled us to discover a number of novel protein-coding regions, which includes translated pseudogenes, non-coding RNAs and upstream open reading frames. This large human proteome catalogue (available as an interactive web-based resource at http://www.humanproteomemap.org) will complement available human genome and transcriptome data to accelerate biomedical research in health and disease.

Phosphoproteome of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated pathogenic yeast, which causes life threatening meningitis in immunocompromised individuals. C. neoformans var. grubii is the most prevalent and virulent form among the two varieties of C. neoformans - C. neoformans var. grubii and C. neoformans var. neoformans. The virulence of C. neoformans is mainly conferred by its capsule and melanin. cAMP dependent PKA-induced phosphorylation events are reported to be associated with the expression of these virulence traits, which highlights the importance of phosphoproteins in virulence and infection. Therefore, we performed global profiling of phosphoproteome of C. neoformans to enable a better understanding of molecular regulation of its virulence and pathogenesis. High resolution mass spectrometry of TiO2 enriched phosphopeptides from C. neoformans var. grubii grown in culture led to the identification of 1089 phosphopeptides derived from 648 proteins including about 45 kinases. Motif enrichment analysis revealed that most CDK family substrates were found to be phosphorylated. This indicates that cyclin-dependent kinases were among the active kinases in the pathogen in culture. These studies provide a framework for understanding virulence mechanisms in the context of signalling pathways in pathogenic yeast. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Trends in Microbial Proteomics. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C. neoformans is a pathogenic yeast responsible for cryptococcal meningitis. Melanin and polysaccharide capsule have been established as some of the key virulence factors that play a major role in the pathogenesis of C. neoformans. Recent studies have shown the role of kinase mediated signalling pathways in governing biosynthesis of these virulence factors. This study revealed 1540 phosphorylation sites in 648 proteins providing a comprehensive view of phosphoproteins in C. neoformans. This should serve as a useful resource to explore activated signalling pathways in C. neoformans and their association with its virulence and pathogenesis.