Proteomic analysis of atherosclerotic plaque

Proteins play a fundamental role in the formation and progression of plaque, but proteomic analysis of plaque as a whole is difficult, due to its heterogeneous cellular composition and an abundance of plasma proteins. Several approaches to this problem are reported in the literature; they include proteomic analysis of vascular tissues, analysis of proteins released by normal and pathological arterial walls, proteomic analysis of vascular cells and proteomic analysis of blood. In a previous study, we proposed a new strategy for studying of proteome of plaque, which permits to select the proteins exclusive to plaque by the constructing of a reference synthetic gel. In the present work, we matched the spots of the reference synthetic gel with the spots of a pool of carotid plaque, in order to select only spots exclusive to plaque from the 2-dimensional electrophoresis of the pool of plaque. We selected some spots between those exclusive and identified them by mass spectrometry. Some proteins identified are involved in transport, others take part in elimination of toxic radicals, others are metabolic enzymes or structural proteins. This study represents an example of application of the new approach which we have proposed: the reference gel of proteome of plaque permits to select, on every sample of interest, only the spots exclusive to plaque; once selected, spots can be identified by mass spectrometry and, being typical of plaque composition, could represent novel markers of lesions and vascular risk.