Mass spectrometric identification of posttranslational modifications in transthyretin from human blood

Abstract

Transthyretin, one of the major blood proteins, displays a variety of posttranslational modifications, including those related to the development of grave diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and familial amyloid polyneuropathy. A combined analytical technique based on the use of two mass spectrometric approaches (bottom-up and top-down) has been developed in the present study to determine the role of the modified forms of transthyretin in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The high efficiency of this technique has been demonstrated for ten serum samples obtained from patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy volunteers.