Irreversible Oxidative Modification Research Articles

Multiplexed Proteomic Analysis of Oxidation and Concentrations of Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins in Alzheimer Disease

Carbonylation is an irreversible oxidative modification of proteins that has been linked to various conditions of oxidative stress, aging, physiological disorders, and disease. Increased oxidative stress is thus also considered to play a role in the pathogenesis of age-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease (AD). In addition, it has recently become evident that the response mechanisms to increased oxidative stress may depend on sex. Several oxidized carbonylated proteins have been identified in plasma and brain of AD patients by use of 2-dimensional oxyblotting. In this pilot study, we estimated the concentrations and carbonylation of the most abundant cerebrospinal fluid proteins in aging women and men, both AD patients suffering from mild dementia and individuals exhibiting no cognitive decline. Oxidized carbonylated proteins were analyzed with 2-dimensional multiplexed oxyblotting, mass spectrometry, and database searches. Signals for beta-trace, lambda chain, and transthyretins were decreased in probable AD patients compared with controls. The only identified protein exhibiting an increased degree of carbonylation in AD patients was lambda chain. The concentrations of proteins did not generally differ between men and women; however, vitamin D-binding protein, apolipoprotein A-I, and alpha-1-antitrypsin exhibited higher extents of carbonylation in men. None of the brain-specific proteins exhibited carbonylation changes in probable AD patients compared with age-matched neurological controls showing no cognitive decline. The carbonylation status of proteins differed between women and men. Two-dimensional multiplexed oxyblotting is applicable to study both the concentrations and carbonylation of cerebrospinal fluid proteins.

Quantification of oxidative posttranslational modifications of cysteine thiols of p21ras associated with redox modulation of activity using isotope-coded affinity tags and mass spectrometry

p21ras GTPase is the protein product of the most commonly mutated human oncogene and has been identified as a target for reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Posttranslational modification of reactive thiols, by reversible S-glutathiolation and S-nitrosation, and potentially also by irreversible oxidation, may have significant effects on p21ras activity. Here we used an isotope-coded affinity tag (ICAT) and mass spectrometry to quantitate the reversible and irreversible oxidative posttranslational thiol modifications of p21ras caused by peroxynitrite (ONOO −) or glutathione disulfide (GSSG). The activity of p21ras was significantly increased after exposure to GSSG, but not to ONOO −. The results of LC-MS/MS analysis of tryptic peptides of p21ras treated with ONOO − showed that ICAT labeling of Cys 118 was decreased by 47%, whereas Cys 80 was not significantly affected and was thereby shown to be less reactive. The extent of S-glutathiolation of Cys 118 by GSSG was 53%, and that of the terminal cysteines was 85%, as estimated by the decrease in ICAT labeling. The changes in ICAT labeling caused by GSSG were reversible by chemical reduction, but those caused by peroxynitrite were irreversible. The quantitative changes in thiol modification caused by GSSG associated with increased activity demonstrate the potential importance of redox modulation of p21ras.

Creation of Allotypic Active Sites during Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is a factor in a series of diseases and aging, primarily through irreversible oxidative modification of proteins. A major question is how nonenzymatic oxidation has the specificity to impact cellular regulation. Here, we report the degree to which in vivo protein oxidation to the ketone and aldehyde level is random using yeast as a simple model system and hydrogen peroxide as an environmental oxidative stress agent. Among 415 affinity-selected proteins identified throughout the matrix of stressed cells, oxidation sites were found in 87, predominantly on lysine, arginine, proline, histidine, threonine, and methionine residues. In almost all cases, one to two specific oxidation sites on the exterior of proteins were identified using MS-derived sequence and publicly available 3-D structural data. This suggests that, when regulation or disease progression is mediated by protein oxidation, specific new "allotypic active sites" are being created in proteins that trigger the process.

Defense against Protein Carbonylation by DnaK/DnaJ and Proteases of the Heat Shock Regulon

Protein carbonylation is an irreversible oxidative modification that increases during organism aging and bacterial growth arrest. We analyzed whether the heat shock regulon has a role in defending Escherichia coli cells against this deleterious modification upon entry into stationary phase. Providing the cell with ectopically elevated levels of the heat shock transcription factor, sigma32, effectively reduced stasis-induced carbonylation. Separate overproduction of the major chaperone systems, DnaK/DnaJ and GroEL/GroES, established that the former of these is more important in counteracting protein carbonylation. Deletion of the heat shock proteases Lon and HslVU enhanced carbonylation whereas a clpP deletion alone had no effect. However, ClpP appears to have a role in reducing protein carbonyls in cells lacking Lon and HslVU. Proteomic immunodetection of carbonylated proteins in the wild-type, lon, and hslVU strains demonstrated that the same spectrum of proteins displayed a higher load of carbonyl groups in the lon and hslVU mutants. These proteins included the beta-subunit of RNA polymerase, elongation factors Tu and G, the E1 subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, isocitrate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and serine hydroxymethyltranferase.

Glutathione, Stress Responses, and Redox Signaling in Lung Inflammation

Changes in the ratio of intracellular reduced and disulfide forms of glutathione (GSH/GSSG) can affect signaling pathways that participate in various physiological responses from cell proliferation to gene expression and apoptosis. It is also now known that many proteins have a highly conserved cysteine (sulfhydryl) sequence in their active/regulatory sites, which are primary targets of oxidative modifications and thus important components of redox signaling. However, the mechanism by which oxidants and GSH/protein-cysteine-thiols actually participate in redox signaling still remains to be elucidated. Initial studies involving the role of cysteine in various proteins have revealed that cysteine-SH may mediate redox signaling via reversible or irreversible oxidative modification to Cys-sulfenate or Cys-sulfinate and Cys-sulfonate species, respectively. Oxidative stress possibly via the modification of cysteine residues activates multiple stress kinase pathways and transcription factors nuclear factor-kappaB and activator protein-1, which differentially regulate the genes for proinflammatory cytokines as well as the protective antioxidant genes. Understanding the redox signaling mechanisms for differential gene regulation may allow for the development of novel pharmacological approaches that preferentially up-regulate key antioxidants genes, which, in turn, reduce or resolve inflammation and injury. This forum article features the current knowledge on the role of GSH in redox signaling, particularly the regulation of transcription factors and downstream signaling in lung inflammation.

Identification and characterization of protein kinase C zeta-immunoreactive proteins.

Two immunoreactive proteins (75 and 80 kDa) were detected in rat brain and rabbit aorta using a polyclonal peptide-directed antibody to the C terminus of the zeta isoenzyme of protein kinase C (PKC). The 75-kDa protein resembled authentic PKC zeta; it was recovered in cytosolic fractions prepared in the presence or absence of Ca2+. The 80-kDa protein, however, bound to the particulate fraction in a Ca(2+)-dependent and reversible manner, but phosphorylated a synthetic peptide derived from the autoinhibitory domain of PKC epsilon in a Ca(2+)-independent but phospholipid- and diacylglycerol-dependent manner. Purification of the 80-kDa protein from rat brain, which separated two PKC zeta-immunoreactive proteins of 81.3 and 79.4 kDa, was achieved by EGTA extraction of the particulate fraction followed by chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel, phenyl-Sepharose, and hydroxylapatite. The 81.3-kDa protein copurified with PKC alpha, and the 79.4-kDa protein copurified with PKC beta and PKC gamma. PKC alpha, -beta and -gamma isoenzymes separated by hydroxylapatite chromatography all cross-reacted with anti-PKC zeta. Using recombinant PKC isoenzymes, however, anti-PKC zeta was shown to recognize rPKC alpha, rPKC beta 1, and rPKC beta II but not rPKC gamma. The regulatory properties of these isoenzymes differed from each other and depended on the particular substrate. PKC alpha was found to separate into two peaks on hydroxylapatite chromatography. The first peak exhibited regulatory properties characteristic of PKC alpha, whereas the second peak (PKC alpha') exhibited constitutive activity. PKC alpha' appears to be derived from PKC alpha by irreversible oxidative modification.