(Press-News.org)
Urine is one of the attractive sources for early and sensitive biomarker discovery since it can accumulate and reflect changes in the human body while being collected non-invasively. However, analysis of the urine proteome presents challenges due to its wide dynamic range, spanning approximately 10 orders of magnitude in protein concentrations. The presence of high-abundance proteins in urine can overshadow potential disease biomarkers, making their identification difficult. Fractionation and depletion strategies are commonly employed before performing mass spectrometry (MS) analysis in order to enhance the detection and identification of these elusive biomarkers.
As a promising alternative, urine fractionation through ultracentrifugation (UC) can be employed to deplete high-abundance proteins, allowing for the isolation of exosomes with high purity while retaining most of the high-abundance proteins in the supernatant. Nonetheless, the strong centrifugal shearing force during UC can unavoidably disrupt the intact structure of exosomes, resulting in the isolation of only trace amounts from a small urine volume.
With all the existing limitations in mind, a team of researchers in China proposed a novel solid-phase alkylation (SPA)-based sample preparation method for low-loss, anti-interference processing of sub-microgram proteomic samples.
“Our method combines UC fractionation, solid-phase extraction (SPA) sample preparation, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to enable comprehensive proteome profiling of urine, known as CPU, or comprehensive proteome profiling of urine,” explained corresponding author Huiming Yuan, a professor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This facile strategy resulted in the identification of a total of 1,659 proteins using a short LC gradient of approximately 1 hour, which is 2.3 times more than the 730 proteins identified from raw urine without fractionation.”
Notably, in comparison to existing urine sample preparation methods, CPU offers significant advantages. Not only does it drastically reduce the analysis time by 3-4 times, but it also enhances the identification coverage of the urine proteome by 130%-160%.
"The method was further employed in combination with label-free quantification to conduct comparative proteome analysis of urine from both IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients and healthy donors,” shared lead author Xinxin Liu, a technician at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “As a result, 227 differentially expressed proteins were identified, shedding light on potential biomarkers associated with IgAN.”
Several members of the solute carrier family 22 (SLC22) were found to be up-regulated in IgAN patients, suggesting a potential link to the disruption of renal metabolic function in these individuals.
The team reported their study in the KeAi journal Urine.
“Our results demonstrated that our developed method holds promise as a valuable tool for the discovery of disease-related biomarkers in urine" Liu concluded.
###
Contact the author: Huiming Yuan, CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, huimingyuan@dicp.ac.cn
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
END
CHICAGO—Exposure to dioxins can negatively impact thyroid function, according to a study presented Thursday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.
Dioxins are highly toxic compounds that are primarily produced by industrial processes, and their persistence in the environment makes them a significant public health concern. They are produced through a variety of incineration processes, including improper municipal waste incineration and burning of trash. They can be released into the air during natural processes, such as forest fires and volcanoes. ...
Adverse cognitive effects linked to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposure, a type of endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), have the potential to be passed down through generations, according to an animal study being presented Thursday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.
PCBs can mimic the effect of the hormone estrogen on the body, contributing to a variety of neuroendocrine, metabolic and reproductive problems.
“Endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in our food, air, water and personal products may cause cognitive-behavioral disorders like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or overeating in future generations,” ...
In two new reports, IIASA researchers, with support from colleagues at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), examined the feasibility and fairness of emissions targets and considerations for the European Climate Law. Keywan Riahi, a member of the 15-strong EU Advisory Board and IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, took the lead in conducting the analyses.
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change is an independent board entrusted with the crucial responsibility of providing transparent and scientific guidance to the EU on setting a new emissions reduction target to be achieved by 2040, as well as budgets for greenhouse ...
CRAG researchers have discovered that AtMC3 protein is exclusively located in a specific part of the plant vascular system.
Increased levels of AtMC3 are able to confer enhanced tolerance to severe water scarcity conditions, without affecting plant yield.
This knowledge will contribute to find tools to cope with increasing drought phenomena due to climate crisis.
Bellaterra (Barcelona), 16 June 2023
Researchers led by Núria Sánchez-Coll, CSIC researcher at the Centre ...
SUMMARY
Treating a mouse model of multiple sclerosis with the pregnancy hormone estriol reversed the breakdown of myelin in the brain’s cortex, a key region affected in multiple sclerosis, according to a new UCLA Health study.
BACKGROUND
In multiple sclerosis, inflammation spurs the immune system to strip away the protective myelin coating around nerve fibers in the brain’s cortex, hampering electrical signals sent and received by the brain. Atrophy of the cortex in MS patients is associated with permanent worsening of disability, such as cognitive decline, visual impairment, weakness and sensory loss.
No currently available treatments ...
INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers at the School of Science at IUPUI will lead two grants totaling $11.7 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to fund research on discovering a drug treatment for hydrocephalus, a condition commonly associated with complications from traumatic brain injury that causes cerebrospinal fluid to accumulate in the brain.
Using funds from a $7.8 million Department of Defense Focused Program grant, Bonnie Blazer-Yost and Teri Belecky-Adams, both professors in the Department of Biology, will team up with scientists from Johns Hopkins University to test the effectiveness of treatments for three types of hydrocephalus — genetic, ...
NEW ORLEANS – Ochsner Health is pleased to announce Tiffany Murdock as the organization’s next system vice president and chief nursing officer (CNO), effective later this summer. In this leadership role, Murdock will set the strategy and vision for the organization’s nursing practice and lead the organization’s more than 9,000 nurses. Murdock joins Ochsner’s leadership team after eight years at Singing River Health System, where she has served since 2022 as Singing River’s first female chief executive officer (CEO).
Murdock ...
An Indiana University researcher is investigating critical geochemical processes that trap carbon dioxide in rock to better predict the potential for atmospheric carbon removal and storage at scale.
Chen Zhu, a globally recognized geologist and professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences within the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, has been awarded $736,000 from the National Science Foundation to solve long-standing gaps in scientists’ understanding of CO2-water-rock interactions that naturally remove carbon dioxide from the ...
For many materials critical to supply chains that will help enable America’s decarbonization transition, resources are limited. Traditional mining is fraught with challenges, so advancing clean energy depends on finding new ways to reliably access critical materials.
Promoting national security and economic competitiveness will require America’s researchers to find new ways to obtain the materials that we need for many technologies. These include batteries, magnets in electric motors, catalysts, nuclear reactors ...
In a collaboration with Groningen University, Professor Jørgen Kjems and his research group at Aarhus University have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in developing tiny nano-sized pores that can contribute to better possibilities for, among other things, detecting diseases at an earlier stage. Their work, recently published in the scientific journal ACS Nano, shows a new innovative method for finding specific proteins in complex biological fluids, such as blood, without having to label the proteins chemically. The research is an important milestone in nanopore technology, and could revolutionise medical diagnostics.
Nanopores are ...
