1,721,137 research outputs found
The role of desmosines as biomarkers for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
No full textSince chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a progressive and major impact on health management, many aspects of this disorder, including development of effective and reliable biomarkers to monitor disease progression, are under intensive investigation. A huge amount of data, accumulated over the years, have provided solid evidence that two pyridinium-ring-containing amino acid isoforms, desmosine and isodesmosine (usually referred to as desmosines), unique to mature elastin in humans, are representative of the elastin breakdown occurring in chronic destructive disorders, such as COPD. This paper is aimed at providing a critical review of the methodological steps that have marked the progress in the detection of desmosines in biological fluids in health and disease, as well as the progress in the authors knowledge of desmosines' role in the pathophysiology of COPD. The authors have tried to emphasize that the suitability of desmosine as a biomarker for COPD increased over the years, as the techniques developed for its detection became progressively more sophisticated and precise. The authors conclude that desmosines, although not yet definitely proven, have nevertheless all the requisites to become a critical COPD biomarker
Spit it out! How could the sputum proteome aid clinical research into pulmonary diseases?
No full textAdvances in proteomic techniques for biomarker discovery in COPD
No full textChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of the lung with airflow obstruction and progressive deterioration of pulmonary function. The need to discover and validate biomarkers as prognostic tools of development and progression of the disease has received further support with the advent of proteomic techniques. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and gel electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (2-DE/MS) have been applied to investigate the proteome of a number of lung-origin samples, including sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, exhaled-breath condensate, cells and biopsies from COPD patients. In particular, 2-DE and MS are the main proteomic approaches with 2-DE presenting the major approach for quantitative proteomics. The molecules identified as potential biomarkers of COPD may represent a preliminary step for better comprehension of the mechanisms involved in the onset/progression of the disease
Chloroplast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NADP+). Reactivity of essential cysteine residues in holo- and apoenzyme.
No full textNo abstract availabl
Characterization of intraspecific somatic hybrids of carrot obtained by fusionof iodoacetate-inactivated A2CA-resistant and sensitive protoplasts
No full textConformation and kinetic properties of photosynthetic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase "in vivo".
No full textPhotosynthetic GAPDH has been studied in chloroplast extracts, obtained in presence of physiological concentrations of NADP and NAD. The enzyme is shown to have a molecular weight of 600,000, on the basis of zymograms obtained after electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gradient gels. Km values of 0.08 and 0.16 mM, respectively, were found for NADP and NAD. The same V is reached with both NADP and NAD. The two coenzymes bind to the enzyme at the same catalytic site
Identification of human nasal mucous proteins using proteomics.
Full text linkThe determination of possible biomarkers in nasal secretion of healthy subjects can have a role in early diagnosis of diseases such as rhinosinusitis. For this purpose, nasal lavage fluids (NLFs)
from ten volunteers, collected before and after they had been submitted to nasal provocations, were investigated. Separation and analysis of proteins present in this complex matrix was performed using a capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry equipment. From among a total of 111 proteins found (89 known and two unknown
proteins), 42 of which had never been previously described in this fluid, such as Deleted
inMalignant Brain Tumors 1 isoform a precursors, and cytoskeletal proteins were identified with
high statistical score. Three proteins of palate lung nasal epithelial clone (PLUNC) family:
SPLUNC1, LPLUNC1, and LPLUNC2 were identified. Proteins involved in innate (27%) and
acquired immunity (21%) systems were major components of NLF. Cellular (52% of all proteins
identified) such as cytoskeletal (33%), functional (15%), and regulatory (4%) proteins, normally
present in the nasal cavity, have also been identified. The proteomic approach presented here
allowed us to identify the proteins involved in acquired and innate immune response in the nose
against microbial infections and unclean inhaled air
Conductivity in Exhaled Breath Condensate from Subjects with Emphysema and Type ZZ alpha-1-Antitrypsin Deficiency
No full textThe assessment of biomarkers in biological samples from the lung has long been employed. Upon cooling water vapor present in exhaled breath, variable amounts of droplets of condensate (EBC) containing volatile and non-volatile compounds may be easily and non-invasively obtained from patients of any age.Objective of the present study was to compare the level of EBC conductivity determined for cohorts of individuals with different inflammatory lung disorders with that of healthy never-smoking individuals.The conductivity in EBC of PiZZ-Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency patients with a diagnosis of emphysema (PiZZ-AATD) was 3 fold lower than in spouse controls (54.5 ± 11.6 vs 165.3 ± 10.7 μS/cm). Non-PiZZ emphysema patients had conductivity in EBC of 59.6 ± 5.8 μS/cm and patients with sarcoidosis without airflow obstruction had EBC conductivity of 178,8 ± 6,2 μS/cm,
not significantly different (p = 0.5) from healthy controls. Conductivity in serial EBC samples from patients with PiZZ-AATD emphysema and healthy controls was stable in 6 different samples collected over a period of 14 months. We conclude that conductivity values in EBC can be used as a correction factor for dilution of non-volatile components in EBC
Nuclear magnetic resonance as an attractive resource for monitoring surveillance candidates of acute and chronic lung disorders
No full textMetabolomics is the comprehensive study of metabolites, i.e. substrates and end-products of cell metabolism. These are low-molecular weight molecules which include amino, nucleic and organic acids, peptides, carbohydrates, vitamins, polyphenols, alkaloids and inorganic species. Being metabolite concentration influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, their amount directly reflects the underlying biochemical activity and state of cells, tissues or organisms. Profiling the metabolome could thus represent the molecular phenotype better than other approaches such as genomics and proteomics. Among the available procedures (Gas Chromatography-/Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry), high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HR-NMR) is currently one of the leading analytical tools for metabolomic research due to its peculiarities. The distinctive advantage of NMR over other methods is the possibility to perform an inherent quantitative and untargeted analysis, also with respect to the chemical nature of metabolites. In addition, NMR shows a good reproducibility, a rapid acquisition time of spectra, and it is not destructive with regard to the sample for which little or no preparation is required. Taken together, these features have promoted NMR-assisted metabolomics to the rank of a valuable method for an efficient investigation of a variety of lung diseases. s S sAim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the applications of metabolomics to the study of acute and chronic lung disorders. Why focus on pulmonary disorders? First, by involving tens of million people, lung diseases are some of the most common medical conditions in the world. Second, the depth of analysis ultimately reached by current metabolomic procedures has provided a new and larger context for future studies on the biology of these conditions. This has allowed for the generation of metabolite profiles that could be useful for exploring pathological mechanisms and/or discovering new potential therapeutic targets for a variety of pulmonary disorders
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