Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    Identification of β2-microglobulin as a urinary biomarker for chronic allograft nephropathy using proteomic methods
    Chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) remains the leading cause of renal graft loss after the first year following renal transplantation. This study aimed to identify novel urinary proteomic profiles, which could distinguish and predict CAN in susceptible individuals. Experimental Design: The study included 34 renal transplant patients with histologically proven CAN and 36 patients with normal renal transplant function. High-throughput proteomic profiles were generated from urine samples with three different ProteinChip arrays by surface-enhanced laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Following SELDI a biomarker pattern software analysis was performed which led to the identification of a novel biomarker pattern that could distinguish patients with CAN from those with normal renal function. Results: An 11.7 kDa protein identified as β2 microglobulin was the primary protein of this biomarker pattern, distinguishing CAN from control patients (ROC = 0.996). SELDI-TOF-MS comparison of purified β2 microglobulin protein and CAN urine demonstrated identical 11.7 kDa protein peaks. Significantly higher concentrations of β2 microglobulin were found in the urine of patients with CAN compared to the urine of normal renal function transplant recipients (p<0.001). Conclusions and clinical relevance: Whilst further validation in a larger more diverse patient population is required to determine if this β2 microglobulin protein biomarker will provide a potential means of diagnosing CAN by non-invasive methods in a clinical setting, this study clearly shows a capability to stratify control and disease patients.
      1026Scopus© Citations 23
  • Publication
    All or Nothing : protein complexes flip essentiality between distantly related eukaryotes
    In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the subunits of any given protein complex are either mostly essential or mostly nonessential, suggesting that essentiality is a property of molecular machines rather than individual components. There are exceptions to this rule, however, that is, nonessential genes in largely essential complexes and essential genes in largely nonessential complexes. Here, we provide explanations for these exceptions, showing that redundancy within complexes, as revealed by genetic interactions, can explain many of the former cases, whereas "moonlighting," as revealed by membership of multiple complexes, can explain the latter. Surprisingly, we find that redundancy within complexes cannot usually be explained by gene duplication, suggesting alternate buffering mechanisms. In the distantly related Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we observe the same phenomenon of modular essentiality, suggesting that it may be a general feature of eukaryotes. Furthermore, we show that complexes flip essentiality in a cohesive fashion between the two species, that is, they tend to change from mostly essential to mostly nonessential, or vice versa, but not to mixed patterns. We show that these flips in essentiality can be explained by differing lifestyles of the two yeasts. Collectively, our results support a previously proposed model where proteins are essential because of their involvement in essential functional modules rather than because of specific topological features such as degree or centrality.
    Scopus© Citations 29  449
  • Publication
    A brain-derived neurotrophic factor mimetic is sufficient to restore cone photoreceptor visual function in an inherited blindness model
    Controversially, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are in clinical trial for the treatment of inherited retinal degeneration. Utilizing the zebrafish dyeucd6 model, we determined if treatment with HDACi can rescue cone photoreceptor-mediated visual function. dye exhibit defective visual behaviour and retinal morphology including ciliary marginal zone (CMZ) cell death and decreased photoreceptor outer segment (OS) length, as well as gross morphological defects including hypopigmentation and pericardial oedema. HDACi treatment of dye results in significantly improved optokinetic (OKR) (~43 fold, p < 0.001) and visualmotor (VMR) (~3 fold, p < 0.05) responses. HDACi treatment rescued gross morphological defects and reduced CMZ cell death by 80%. Proteomic analysis of dye eye extracts suggested BDNF-TrkB and Akt signaling as mediators of HDACi rescue inour dataset. Cotreatment with the TrkB antagonist ANA-12 blocked HDACi rescue of visual function and associated Akt phosphorylation. Notably, sole treatment with a BDNF mimetic, 7,8-dihydroxyflavone hydrate, significantly rescued dye visual function (~58 fold increase in OKR, p < 0.001, ~3 fold increase in VMR, p < 0.05). In summary, HDACi and a BDNF mimetic are sufficient to rescue retinal cell death and visual function in a vertebrate model of inherited blindness.
    Scopus© Citations 28  644
  • Publication
    Hierarchical Modularity and the Evolution of Genetic Interactomes across Species
    To date, cross-species comparisons of genetic interactomes have been restricted to small or functionally related gene sets, limiting our ability to infer evolutionary trends. To facilitate a more comprehensive analysis, we constructed a genome-scale epistasis map (E-MAP) for the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, providing phenotypic signatures for ~60% of the nonessential genome. Using these signatures, we generated a catalog of 297 functional modules, and we assigned function to 144 previously uncharacterized genes, including mRNA splicing and DNA damage checkpoint factors. Comparison with an integrated genetic interactome from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed a hierarchical model for the evolution of genetic interactions, with conservation highest within protein complexes, lower within biological processes, and lowest between distinct biological processes. Despite the large evolutionary distance and extensive rewiring of individual interactions, both networks retain conserved features and display similar levels of functional crosstalk between biological processes, suggesting general design principles of genetic interactomes.
    Scopus© Citations 152  630
  • Publication
    Pharmacological Restoration of Visual Function in a Blind Zebrafish Mutant Following Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor (HDACi) Treatment
    Background: Controversially, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are in clinical trial for the treatment of inherited retinal degenerations. Previous studies report that patients suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) show improved visual field and acuity following treatment with the HDAC inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) (Clemson, Tzekov et al. 2011). However, other studies disagree with these findings (van Schooneveld, van den Born et al. 2011) and (Bhalla, Joshi et al. 2013). Thus, we sought to determine if treatment with HDACi rescued visual function and retinal morphology in a blind zebrafish dying-on-edge (dye) mutant identified from a forward genetics screen.
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