Proteomic definitions of basement membrane composition in health and disease

Michael J Randles1, Martin J Humphries2, Rachel Lennon3

  • 1Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Institute of Human Development, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Basement membranes are formed from condensed networks of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. These structures underlie all epithelial, mesothelial and endothelial sheets and provide an essential structural scaffold. Candidate-based investigations have established that predominant components of basement membranes are laminins, collagen type IV, nidogens and heparan sulphate proteoglycans. More recently, global proteomic approaches have been applied to investigate ECM and these analyses confirm tissue-specific ECM proteomes with a high degree of complexity. The proteomes consist of structural as well as regulatory ECM proteins such as proteases and growth factors. This review is focused on the proteomic analysis of basement membranes and illustrates how this approach can be used to build our understanding of ECM regulation in health and disease.

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