We have recently developed a new target plate (BLOTCHIP®) for MALDI-MS. An advantage of this procedure is that it does not require the lowering of protein concentrations in test samples prior to analysis. Accordingly, this new technology enables the detection of peptides present in blood samples, including those that would otherwise be adsorbed to abundant blood proteins and would thus escape detection. Using this technology, we analyzed the peripheral blood of patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH; the most common serious complication of pregnancy) to test a potential utility of the technology for monitoring of the pathophysiological status. In the present study, we found 23 characteristic peptides for PIH in the blood serum of pregnant women. Offline LC-MALDI MS/MS identified 7 of the 23 peptides as fragments derived from kininogen-1 (three peptides), fibrinogen-α, complement component C4-A/B, α-2-HS-glycoprotein and inter-α-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4. 2-D scatter plots with combinations of the peptides found in the present study can be grouped for pregnant women with/without PIH, which would be satisfactory reflected for their status. Additionally, the levels of most of these peptides found were significantly decreased by albumin/IgG depletion prior to BLOTCHIP® analysis in accordance with conventional proteomics procedures. These results indicated that BLOTCHIP® analysis can be applied for discovery study of PIH biomarker candidates.

In this study, we explore the evolution and function of two closely related RNase A ribonucleases from the chicken, Gallus gallus. Separated by ϳ10 kb on chromosome 6, the coding sequences of RNases A-1 and A-2 are diverging under positive selection pressure (d N > d S ) but remain similar to one another (81% amino acid identity) and to the mammalian angiogenins. Immunoreactive RNases A-1 and A-2 (both ϳ16 kDa) were detected in peripheral blood granulocytes and bone marrow. Recombinant proteins are ribonucleolytically active (k cat ‫؍‬ 2.6 and 0.056 s ؊1 , respectively), and surprisingly, both interact with human placental ribonuclease inhibitor. RNase A-2, the more cationic (pI 11.0), is both angiogenic and bactericidal; RNase A-1 (pI 10.2) has neither activity. We demonstrated via point mutation of the catalytic His 110 that ablation of ribonuclease activity has no impact on the bactericidal activity of RNase A-2. We determined that the divergent domains II (amino acids 71-76) and III (amino acids 89 -104) of RNase A-2 are both important for bactericidal activity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these cationic domains can function as independent bactericidal peptides without the tertiary structure imposed by the RNase A backbone. These results suggest that ribonucleolytic activity may not be a crucial constraint limiting the ongoing evolution of this gene family and that the ribonuclease backbone may be merely serving as a scaffold to support the evolution of novel, nonribonucleolytic proteins.The RNase A ribonuclease gene family has been a tremendous source of information on unusual evolutionary constraints and their effects on protein structure and function at the molecular level. Although RNase A ribonucleases maintain invariant disulfide bonds and catalytic components that are necessary for RNA degradation, other regions have diverged dramatically. RNase A ribonucleases have been implicated in a wide variety of physiologic functions and have been observed to promote angiogenesis, cellular apoptosis, and anti-tumor and anti-pathogen host defense via a complex array of seemingly unrelated molecular mechanisms (reviewed in Refs. 1-8).The specific patterns of diversification are best understood among the RNase A ribonucleases of mammalian species. Four major RNase A lineages have been described in mammals (6) as follows: the pancreatic RNases, or RNases 1, which include the prototype, bovine pancreatic RNase A; a second group, including the eosinophil ribonucleases EDN (RNases 2), ECP (RNases 3), and RNases 6, 7, and 8; a third group that includes the RNases 4; and a final group that includes the angiogenins (RNases 5). There are also several genes, such as RNases 9 -13 in the human genome, that are distantly related to the RNase A family based on amino acid sequence homology but that are missing one or more elements necessary for enzymatic activity (9 -13). Interestingly, not all RNase A lineages are found in every mammalian species, and there are some recently described mammalian RNase A ribonucleases that...

Abstract.Pantetheinase is an enzyme hydrolyzing pantetheine, an intermediate of the coenzyme A degradation pathway. Pantetheinase has long been considered as the enzyme that recycles pantothenic acid (vitamin B 5 ) generated during coenzyme A breakdown. Genetic analyses showed that mammals have multiple genes known as vanin family genes. Recent studies using mice lacking the vanin-1 gene (pantetheinase gene) suggest that pantetheinase is actively involved in the progression of inflammatory reactions by generating cysteamine. Additional studies using human leukocytes demonstrate that human neutrophils have abundant pantetheinase proteins on the surface and inside the cells. The second pantetheinase protein, GPI-80/VNN2, is suggested to work as a modulator of the function of Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18), an adhesion molecule important to neutrophil functions. This review delineates the characteristics of the pantetheinase/vanin gene family and how they affect inflammation.

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