Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2009) 30: 1550–1558; doi: 10.1038/aps.2009.140

Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2009) 30: 1550–1558; doi: 10.1038/aps.2009.140

Original Article

The proteomic analysis of human neonatal umbilical cord serum by mass spectrometry

Hong-juan SONG^1,3, Ping ZHANG², Xue-jiang GUO², Lian-ming LIAO³, Zuo-min ZHOU², Jia-hao SHA², Yu-gui CUI³, Hui JI^1,*, Jia-yin LIU^1,3,*

¹China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; ²Jiangsu Province Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing 210000, China; ³Center of Clinical Reproductive Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210036, China

Aim: To explore the action of doxorubicin on vascular smooth muscle cells.

Methods: Serum proteomic analyses were performed on samples from both males and females by using a combination of techniques: (1) removal of six high-abundance proteins, (2) tryptic digestion of low-abundance proteins, (3) separation of peptide mixtures by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and (4) peptide identification using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS).

Results: A total of 837 non-redundant proteins were identified, with 213 male-specific and 239 female-specific proteins. Among them, 319 proteins were identified by at least 2 distinct peptides. The subcellular localization, function, and pathway involvement for each of the identified proteins were analyzed. A comparison of this neonatal proteome to that of adult serum proteome revealed novel biomarkers, such as alpha-fetoprotein and periostin that were specific to newborn infants.

Conclusion: These data will contribute to a better understanding of the composition of umbilical cord serum and aid the discovery of novel biomarkers for the prenatal diagnosis of fetal abnormalities.

Keywords: mass spectrometry; reference specimen; serum proteome; umbilical cord serum

This study was supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (2006CB944005 and 2006CB701503), the National 863 High Technology Foundation of China (No 2006AA02Z 4A 4), the Project for Creative Teams approved by the Ministry of Education (IRT0631), and a Grant from the Department of Education of Jiangsu Province , China (No JHB06-13).

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail liujiayin999@163.com
Received 2009-04-13 Accepted 2009-08-19

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