Pressure-Assisted Protein Extraction: A Novel Method for Recovering Proteins from Archival Tissue for Proteomic Analysis

Formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue repositories represent a valuable resource for the retrospective study of disease progression and response to therapy. However, the proteomic analysis of FFPE tissues has been hampered by formaldehyde-induced protein modifications, which reduce protein extraction efficiency and may lead to protein misidentification. Here, we demonstrate the use of heat augmented with high hydrostatic pressure (40,000 psi) as a novel method for the recovery of intact proteins from FFPE mouse liver. When FFPE mouse liver was extracted using heat and elevated pressure, there was a 4-fold increase in protein extraction efficiency, a 3-fold increase in the extraction of intact proteins, and up to a 30-fold increase in the number of nonredundant proteins identified by mass spectrometry, compared to matched tissue extracted with heat alone. More importantly, the number of nonredundant proteins identified in the FFPE tissue was nearly identical to that of matched fresh-frozen tissue

Phosphorylation of centromeric histone H3 variant regulates chromosome segregation in S. cerevisiae

The centromeric histone H3 variant (CenH3) is essential for chromosome segregation in eukaryotes. We have identified posttranslational modifications of S. cerevisiae CenH3, Cse4. Functional characterization of cse4 phosphorylation mutants showed growth and chromosome segregation defects when combined with kinetochore mutants okp1 and ame1. Using a phosphoserine-specific antibody we showed that the association of phosphorylated Cse4 with centromeres is increased in response to defective microtubule attachment or reduced cohesion. We determined that evolutionarily conserved Ipl1/Aurora B contributes to phosphorylation of Cse4, as levels of phosphorylated Cse4 were reduced at centromeres in ipl1 strains in vivo and in vitro assays showed phosphorylation of Cse4 by Ipl1. Consistent with these results we observed that a phosphomimetic cse4-4SD mutant suppressed the temperature sensitive growth of ipl1-2 and Ipl1 substrate mutants dam1 spc34 and ndc80 that are defective for chromosome biorientation. Furthermore, cell biology approaches using a GFP labeled chromosome showed that cse4-4SD suppressed chromosome segregation defects in dam1 spc34 strains. Based these results we propose that phosphorylation of Cse4 destabilizes defective kinetochores to promote biorientation and ensure faithful chromosome segregation. Taken together, our study provides a detailed analysis, in vivo and in vitro, of Cse4 phosphorylation and its role in promoting faithful chromosome segregation

Cancer Biomarker Discovery: Opportunities and Pitfalls in Analytical Methods

Many diseases result in specific and characteristic changes in the chemical and biochemical profiles of biological fluids and tissues prior to development of clinical symptoms. These changes are often useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Identifying biomarkers that can be used for the early detection of cancer will result in more efficient treatments, reduction in suffering, and lower mortality rates. An ideal screening test should be non-invasive with high sensitivity and specificity. Proteomic and metabolomic analyses of biological samples can reveal changes in abundance levels of metabolites and proteins that when validated and confirmed through clinical trials can function as clinical tests for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring disease progression, and predicting therapeutic response. While the past decade has seen great advancements in proteomics and metabolomics research producing potential biomarkers for cancer, most of the identified biomarkers have failed to replace existing clinical tests. To become a clinically approved test, a potential biomarker should be confirmed and validated using hundreds of specimens and should be reproducible, specific, and sensitive. A search of the scientific and medical literature indicates that many studies report the discovery of potential biomarkers without proper validation and/or they do not meet the above criteria. In this manuscript, we will discuss the successes and the pitfalls of biomarker research and comment on study and experimental design, which in most cases is lacking, resulting in suboptimal biomarkers

Cancer biomarker discovery: Opportunities and pitfalls in analytical methods

Many diseases result in specific and characteristic changes in the chemical and biochemical profiles of biological fluids and tissues prior to development of clinical symptoms. These changes are often useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Identifying biomarkers that can be used for the early detection of cancer will result in more efficient treatments, reduction in suffering, and lower mortality rates. An ideal screening test should be non-invasive with high sensitivity and specificity. Proteomic and metabolomic analyses of biological samples can reveal changes in abundance levels of metabolites and proteins that when validated and confirmed through clinical trials can function as clinical tests for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring disease progression, and predicting therapeutic response. While the past decade has seen great advancements in proteomics and metabolomics research producing potential biomarkers for cancer, most of the identified biomarkers have failed to replace existing clinical tests. To become a clinically approved test, a potential biomarker should be confirmed and validated using hundreds of specimens and should be reproducible, specific, and sensitive. A search of the scientific and medical literature indicates that many studies report the discovery of potential biomarkers without proper validation and/or they do not meet the above criteria. In this manuscript, we will discuss the successes and the pitfalls of biomarker research and comment on study and experimental design, which in most cases is lacking, resulting in suboptimal biomarkers

Analytical and Statistical Approaches to Metabolomics Research

Metabolomics, the global profiling of metabolites in different living systems, has experienced a rekindling of interest partially due to the improved detection capabilities of the instrumental techniques currently being used in this area of biomedical research. The analytical methods of choice for the analysis of metabolites in search of disease biomarkers in biological specimens, and for the study of various low molecular weight metabolic pathways include NMR spectroscopy, GC/MS, CE/MS, and HPLC/MS. Global metabolite analysis and profiling of two different sets of data results in a plethora of data that is difficult to manage or interpret manually because of their subtle differences. Multivariate statistical methods and pattern-recognition programs were developed to handle the acquired data and to search for the discriminating features between data acquired from two sample sets, healthy and diseased. Metabolomics have been used in toxicology, plant physiology, and biomedical research. In this paper, we discuss various aspects of metabolomic research including sample collection, handling, storage, requirements for sample analysis, peak alignment, data interpretation using statistical approaches, metabolite identification, and finally recommendations for successful analysis

Elevated Hydrostatic Pressure Promotes Protein Recovery from Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Surrogates

High-throughput proteomic studies on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues have been hampered by inefficient methods to extract proteins from archival tissue and by an incomplete knowledge of formaldehyde-induced modifications to proteins. We previously reported a method for the formation of \u27tissue surrogates\u27 as a model to study formalin fixation, histochemical processing, and protein retrieval from FFPE tissues. In this study, we demonstrate the use of high hydrostatic pressure as a method for efficient protein recovery from FFPE tissue surrogates. Reversal of formaldehyde-induced protein adducts and crosslinks was observed when lysozyme tissue surrogates were extracted at 45 000 psi and 80-100 degrees C in Tris buffers containing 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate and 0.2 M glycine at pH 4. These conditions also produced peptides resulting from acid-catalyzed aspartic acid cleavage. Additives such as trimethylamine N-oxide or copper (II) chloride decreased the total percentage of these aspartic acid cleavage products, while maintaining efficient reversal of intermolecular crosslinks in the FFPE tissue surrogates. Mass spectrometry analysis of the recovered lysozyme yielded 70% sequence coverage, correctly identified all formaldehyde-reactive amino acids, and demonstrated hydrolysis at all of the expected trypsin cleavage sites. This study demonstrates that elevated hydrostatic pressure treatment is a promising approach for improving the recovery of proteins from FFPE tissues for proteomic analysis

LC‐MS in Metabonomics: Optimization of Experimental Conditions for the Analysis of Metabolites in Human Urine

The analysis of metabolic pathways for dysfunction has been used for many years in the scientific and medical community to determine overall health. Metabonomics (metabolomics), the global profiling of metabolites, has experienced a rekindling of interest due, in part, to advances in analytical instrumentation for conducting measurements and informatics available for interpretation of the data acquired in this area of biomedical research. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) based approaches are two primary analytical methods of choice for conducting metabonomic measurements. To overcome the complexity and wide dynamic range of concentrations of metabolites present in biological samples, a common practice is to couple online an analytical separation, typically high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with the mass spectrometer. Hence, of critical importance are not only the MS acquisition parameters, but also optimization of those variables that impact the analytical HPLC separation as well. A systematic investigation of a number of variables related to HPLC, such as mobile phase composition and flow rate, gradient time, column dimensions, and packing material properties has been conducted. The results of this study show that 10 cm long×1 mm inner diameter (i.d.), C 18 reversed‐phase columns provide higher resolution than C 8 or C 4 columns for the analysis of urine samples. The results also show that longer columns and extended mobile phase gradients allowed detection of a greater number of metabolites. As expected, MS analysis of the same urine sample using positive and negative ionization modes resulted in detection of a different ensemble of metabolites. Though prior dilution of rat and mouse urine is a common practice in conducting HPLC‐MS metabonomic analyses, our results suggest that a greater number of species may be observed using undiluted urine. The matrix (composition) of urine collected from different individuals affected the reproducibility of retention times. The variability in metabolite retention times using internal standards, although improved, was not completely corrected