Heart disease, clinical proteomics and mass spectrometry

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Proteomics
• Cardiovascular Medicine

Background:

• Heart disease is a leading global cause of death and illness.
• Accurate biomarkers are crucial for diagnosing, predicting, and managing heart conditions like acute myocardial infarction and heart failure.
• Developing reliable cardiac biomarkers involves discovery, validation, and clinical translation of candidate proteins.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the application of mass spectrometry (MS) in cardiac biomarker discovery and validation.
• To highlight the role of proteomic analysis in identifying and confirming heart disease biomarkers.
• To provide examples of MS techniques used in biomarker research.

Main Methods:

• Proteomic analysis of cardiac myocytes, tissue, serum, or plasma using MS.
• Examination of specific protein sub-proteomes, such as albumin-binding proteins, using MALDI-TOF MS/MS for discovery.
• Utilizing affinity surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization (SELDI) for protein validation, including monitoring post-translational modifications and protein status.

Main Results:

• Mass spectrometry is a valuable tool for discovering novel cardiac biomarkers.
• MS techniques enable the validation of candidate proteins by assessing disease-induced changes.
• Specific examples demonstrate MS's utility in identifying potential biomarkers and validating proteins like cardiac troponin I.

Conclusions:

• Mass spectrometry plays a critical role in the entire workflow of cardiac biomarker development.
• MS facilitates both the initial discovery and subsequent validation phases necessary for clinical application.
• The reviewed MS approaches offer promising avenues for advancing cardiovascular disease diagnostics and monitoring.