Sequential trypsin and ProAlanase digestions unearth immunological protein biomarkers shrouded by skeletal collagen.

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the efficacy of proteomic analysis of human remains to identify active infections in the past through the detection of pathogens and the host response to infection. We advance leprosy as a case study due to the sequestering of sufferers in leprosaria and the suggestive skeletal lesions that can result from the disease. Here we present a sequential enzyme extraction protocol, using trypsin followed by ProAlanase, to reduce the abundance of collagen peptides and in so doing increase the detection of non-collagenous proteins. Through our study of five individuals from an 11th to 18th century leprosarium, as well as four from a contemporaneous non-leprosy associated cemetery in Barcelona, we show that samples from 2 out of 5 leprosarium individuals extracted with the se

SUBMITTER: Wilkin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11035369 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature