[Proteomics in cardiology]

Cardiovascular diseases are among the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. The molecular mechanisms responsible for dysfunction of the heart in most cardiac pathologies are still largely unknown, except that the expression of certain genes/proteins is altered. Proteomic analysis is a technology which can provide an overall understanding of changes in the level of protein expression. Especially with differential analysis, it now represents a powerful tool for interpreting all biochemical responses and their regulation. The principal technique employed is two dimensional electrophoresis (2-D gel) to separate the proteins followed by mass spectometry in order to identify them. Recently SELDI-TOF analysis, which is a complementary 2-D electrophoresis technique based on the combination of two principles, chromatography by retention on protein chips and mass spectometry, has allowed the comparison of protein profiles obtained from diverse biological samples. The publication of genome sequences for humans as well as for other species has provided evidence for the biochemical complexity, and in particular the fact that a gene does not just code for a single protein but for several, due to various alternative splicing processes, post-translational modifications etc... The combination of these various approaches has proved to be particularly interesting in the study of cardiovascular diseases with the aim of understanding the molecular mechanisms involved, providing evidence for protein interactions and identifying new biochemical factors / markers involved in the different cardiovascular pathologies.