Project description:Therapeutic neo-vasculogenesis in vivo can be achieved by the co-transplantation of human endothelial colony-forming progenitor cells (ECFCs) with mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSPCs).The underlying mechanism is not completely understood thus hampering the development of novel stem cell therapies.We hypothesized that proteomic profiling could be used to retrieve the in vivo signaling signature during the initial phase of human neo-vasculogenesis. ECFCs and MSPCs were therefore either transplanted alone or co-transplanted subcutaneously into immune deficient mice. Early cell signaling, occurring within the first 24 hours in vivo, was analyzed using antibody microarray proteomic profiling.Vessel formation and persistence were verified in parallel transplants for up to 24 weeks. Proteomic analysis revealed significant alteration of regulatory components including caspases, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, DNA protein kinase,human ErbB2 receptor-tyrosine kinase as well as mitogen-activated protein kinases.Therapeutic candidate caspase-4 was selected from array results for targeting vascular network formation in vitro as well as modulating therapeutic vasculogenesis in vivo. As a proof-of-principle, caspase-4 and general caspase-blocking led to diminished endothelial network formation in vitro and significantly decreased vasculogenesis in vivo. Proteomic profiling ex vivo thus unraveled a signaling signature which can be targeted to modulate neo-vasculogenesis in vivo.
Project description:Social play is a frequently studied behavior and it is the most characteristic form of social interaction observed in adolescent rats. Social play is necessary for adolescents to develop proper cognitive, emotional, and social competency. Deficits in social play have been observed in several neurodegenerative disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, the information available on neural substrates and the mechanism involved in social play is still limited. This study characterized social play by proteomic and transcriptional profiling studies. Social play was performed on male Sprague Dawley rats on postnatal day 38 and protein and gene expression in the amygdala was determined following behavioral testing. The proteomic analysis led to the identification of 170 differentially expressed proteins (p≤0.05) with 67 upregulated and 103 downregulated proteins. The transcriptomic analysis led to the identification of 188 genes (adjusted p≤0.05) with 55 upregulated and 133 downregulated genes. Based on both protein and gene expression data, DAVID analysis revealed that social play altered neurotransmitter signaling including GABAergic and glutamatergic signaling and G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling. These data suggest that the synaptic levels of GABA and glutamate increased during play. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) confirmed these alterations. IPA also revealed that differentially expressed genes/proteins in our data had significant over representation of additional neurotransmitter signaling systems, including the opioid, serotonin, and dopamine systems, suggesting that play alters the systems involved in the regulation of reward. In addition, corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling was altered indicating that an increased level of stress occurs during play. Our data suggest that increased inhibitory GPCR signaling in these neurotransmitter pathways occurs following social play as a physiological response to regulate the induced level of reward and stress and to maintain the excitatory-inhibitory balance in the neurotransmitter systems.
Project description:To identify substrates of the ubiquitinating E3 enzyme Rsp5 we applied purified Rsp5 to duplicate protein arrays. The Rsp proteins were expressed as fusion proteins to GST. We used as a control Ubr1, a RING domain containing E3 ligase
Project description:To identify substrates of the ubiquitinating E3 enzyme Rsp5 we applied purified Rsp5 to duplicate protein arrays. The Rsp proteins were expressed as fusion proteins to GST. We used as a control Ubr1, a RING domain containing E3 ligase We analyzed Rsp5 from S.cerevisiae on duplicate arrays, with four control chips, two without Rsp5 and two with Ubr1.
Project description:The screening of a cDNA derived expression library of Klebsiella pneumoniae MGH 78578 expressed in E.coli using a fusion construct and specific HaloTag interaction to a modified surface is shown. Thus, 1536 different clones were screened including positive (ompA, mdh) and negative (pyrC, gapA) reference proteins. The goal of the screening was to identify potential novel immunogenic proteins from K. pneumoniae by selecting clones showing a high signal intensity in comparison to the known antigens used as positve markers. Afterwards, the most promising clones were sequenced to identify the gene and corresponding protein and these proteins were then investigated further. Consequently, 14 novel immunogenic proteins could be identified.
Project description:Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is an aggressive malignancy that occurs predominantly in young adult males and is characterized by abdominopelvic sarcomatosis exhibiting multi-lineage cellular nests of epithelial, muscular, mesenchymal, and neural differentiation admixed with desmoplastic stroma. Prior to the recognition of the disease as a distinct clinical entity, DSRCT was invariably misclassified as poorly differentiated atypical cancer of the testes, ovary, mesentery, or gastrointestinal tract, and the chemotherapies used for those malignancies elicited poor clinical response. As previously reported, a tectonic shift in the treatment of these patients occurred after researchers made two astute observations: 1) DSRCT microscopically resembles other small round “blue cell” sarcoma subtypes (e.g., ES, rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma), and 2) DSRCT and ES have the same N-terminal EWSR1 fusion partner. Proteomic analysis using a reverse-phase protein lysate array (RPPA) was used to elucidate biomarkers that distinguish DSRCT from adjacent normal tissue and Ewing sarcoma. This proteomic analysis revealed novel proteins, such as the androgen receptor and Syk, that may be susceptible to drug targeting, as well as oncogenic pathways like Akt-PI3K that are highly expressed in DSRCT.
Project description:Protein Ser/Thr kinase CK2 is involved in a myriad of cellular processes including cell growth and proliferation by phosphorylating hundreds of substrates, yet the regulation process of CK2 function is poorly understood. The CK2 catalytic subunit, CK2α, is modified by O-GlcNAc on Ser347 proximal to a Cdk1 phosphorylation site at Thr344 on the same protein. The substrate selectivity for protein kinase CK2 was examined by performing kinase assays on protein microarrays spotted with 17,000 human proteins. Semisynthetic CK2α proteins were prepared to contain an unmodified C-terminal tail, S-GlcNAc-Serine at S347, or Pfa (non-hyrdolyzeable phosphomimic) at T344. These semisynthetic proteins were used to determine if the posttranslational modifications on CK2 alpha modulate the substrate selectivity for this pleiotropic kinase. The different semisynthetic CK2α proteins were tested alone and in the presence of the regulatory subunit CK2β since it is known that the CK2α subunit is active both in its isolated state and in the heterotetrameric state formed in the presence of the regulatory beta subunit. The CK2β subunit has been shown to modulate CK2 activity with some substrates and not others.
Project description:Protein Ser/Thr kinase CK2 is involved in a myriad of cellular processes including cell growth and proliferation by phosphorylating hundreds of substrates, yet the regulation process of CK2 function is poorly understood. The CK2 catalytic subunit, CK2α, is modified by O-GlcNAc on Ser347 proximal to a Cdk1 phosphorylation site at Thr344 on the same protein. The substrate selectivity for protein kinase CK2 was examined by performing kinase assays on protein microarrays spotted with 17,000 human proteins. Semisynthetic CK2α proteins were prepared to contain an unmodified C-terminal tail, S-GlcNAc-Serine at S347, or Pfa (non-hyrdolyzeable phosphomimic) at T344. These semisynthetic proteins were used to determine if the posttranslational modifications on CK2 alpha modulate the substrate selectivity for this pleiotropic kinase. The different semisynthetic CK2α proteins were tested alone and in the presence of the regulatory subunit CK2β since it is known that the CK2α subunit is active both in its isolated state and in the heterotetrameric state formed in the presence of the regulatory beta subunit. The CK2β subunit has been shown to modulate CK2 activity with some substrates and not others. In the study presented here, kinase assays were performed using three different semisynthetic CK2 alpha proteins: unmodified C-terminal tail; S-GlcNAc-Ser at 347; and Pfa (phosphomimic) at 344. The semisynthetic proteins were each tested alone and in the presence of the regualatory CK2 beta subunit. There were six different kinase conditions and each condition was performed in duplicate and one no kinase control was performed to eliminate autophorylated proteins.