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Published on: August 19, 2025
Vascular proteomics: linking proteomic and metabolomic changes
Manuel Mayr1, Ursula Mayr, Yuen-Li Chung
1Department of Cardiac and Vascular Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK. m.mayr@sghms.ac.uk
Insights
Proteomics and metabolomics reveal molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases. Combining these techniques offers deeper insights into arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis than either method alone.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Science
- Proteomics
- Metabolomics
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death, driven by stressors like hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.
- These stressors cause arterial stiffness (arteriosclerosis) and lipid accumulation (atherosclerosis), but molecular mechanisms remain unclear.
- Vascular proteomics is an emerging field, with limited studies applying proteomic techniques to vascular diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the application of proteomics in studying vascular protein alterations.
- To summarize progress in combining proteomic and metabolomic techniques for cardiovascular research.
- To elucidate molecular mechanisms of atheroma formation and cardiovascular disease.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing studies utilizing proteomics in vascular research.
- Integration of proteomic and metabolomic analyses in cardiovascular systems.
- Application of two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
Main Results:
- Two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis identified post-translational modifications of abundant enzymes.
- Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy detected changes in corresponding metabolites.
- Simultaneous proteomic and metabolomic assessment provided functional context and pathophysiological insights.
Conclusions:
- Combining proteomics and metabolomics offers a powerful approach to understanding cardiovascular disease mechanisms.
- This integrated strategy provides insights not achievable through single-technique analyses.
- Further research integrating these 'omics' fields is crucial for advancing cardiovascular disease understanding and treatment.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases constitute the largest of death in the Western world. Various stressors, including elevated blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia directly or indirectly damage the vessel wall, eventually inducing arterial stiffness (arteriosclerosis) and lipid accumulation (atherosclerosis). However, the molecular mechanisms of atheroma formation are not yet fully clarified. While many investigators have used proteomic techniques to study cardiac diseases, vascular proteomics is still in its infancy. The present review highlights studies, in which proteomics has been successfully applied to study protein alterations in the vasculature. Furthermore, we will summarize our recent progress in combining proteomic and metabolomic techniques to reveal protein and metabolite alterations in the cardiovascular system: two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis proved to be highly complementary to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, in that post-translational modifications of the most abundant enzymes were displayed on 2-D gels while NMR spectroscopy revealed changes in the corresponding metabolites. Importantly, the simultaneous assessment of protein and metabolite changes translated purely descriptive proteomic and metabolomic profiles into a functional context and provided important insights into pathophysiological mechanisms that would not have been obtained by other techniques.
