Subcellular Analysis of the Platelet Proteome

Abstract

Blood platelets are key players mainly involved in physiological thrombus formation as well as pathological events, such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, or myocardial infarction. Consequently, numerous studies have focused on gaining insight into the platelet proteome, with biomolecular mass spectrometry providing an efficient technology to cope with this task as it nowadays enables both protein identification and differential quantification of cellular material. To assemble a comprehensive proteomic dataset, platelet-centric studies have to be performed not only on the global scale, but also on the subcellular level, which implies subfractionation techniques and targeted approaches prior to detailed proteomic analyses. In this review we present an overview of advances in platelet subcellular proteomics focussing on the platelet membrane proteome and the protein content of both platelet granules and platelet-derived microparticles. Since posttranslational modifications are furthermore known to decisively participate in platelet function e.g. upon activation, analytical methods for the platelet phospho- as well as the glycoproteome will also be discussed. Keywords: Glycosylation, granule, mass spectrometry, membrane, microparticle, phosphorylation, platelet, proteome, hemostasis, megakaryocytes, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction