Proteomic profiling of human bone from different anatomical sites - A pilot study

Area of Science:

• Proteomics
• Biomaterials Science
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Background:

• Autologous bone grafts are crucial for alveolar reconstruction.
• Understanding the proteomic differences between bone graft sources is essential for optimizing clinical outcomes.
• Alveolar bone (AB), iliac cortical (IC) bone, and iliac spongiosa (IS) are commonly used autografts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comparative proteome-based analysis of alveolar bone (AB), iliac cortical (IC) bone, and iliac spongiosa (IS) used in alveolar onlay grafting.
• To identify distinct protein profiles and functional characteristics of these autologous bone sources.

Main Methods:

• Proteomic analysis using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) on harvested bone samples.
• Protein extraction via a detergent-based strategy followed by trypsinization.
• Statistical analysis using Linear models for microarray analysis (LIMMA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA).

Main Results:

• Identification of 1730 unique proteins across 15 samples.
• Distinct proteomic profiles were observed for AB, IC, and IS, enabling segregation via PLS-DA.
• Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein-related fingerprint in AB and an immune-related fingerprint in IS and IC.

Conclusions:

• Alveolar bone (AB) exhibits a distinct extracellular matrix (ECM) protein fingerprint.
• Iliac spongiosa (IS) and iliac cortical (IC) bone present with an immune-related proteome fingerprint.
• These findings provide insights into the biological characteristics of different autologous bone grafts for alveolar reconstruction.