Proteomic analysis of human vessels: Application to atherosclerotic plaques

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease that affects medium and large arteries. This pro cess originates from the interaction between cells of the arterial wall, lipoproteins and inflammatory cells, leading to the development of complex lesions or plaques that pro trude into the arterial lumen. Plaque rupture and thrombosis result in acute clinical complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Owing to the heterogeneous cellular composition of the plaques, a proteomic analysis of the whole lesion is not appropriate. Therefore, we have studied the proteins secreted by human carotid ather osclerotic plaques, obtained by endarterectomy. Normal artery segments and different regions of the surgical pieces (noncomplicated plaque, complicated plaque with thrombus) were cultured in protein-free medium and the secreted proteins (superna tants) analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Normal artery segments secreted a moderate number of proteins (42 spots). However in the two-dimensional (2-D) gels (pH 3¿10) of segments bearing a plaque, the number of spots increased markedly (154). The number of spots also increased (202) in the 2-D gels of artery seg ments with a ruptured plaque and thrombus. Thus, the more complicated the lesion, the higher the number of secreted proteins, suggesting the production of specific pro teins relating to the complexity of the atherosclerotic lesion. Keywords: Atherosclerotic plaques / Human vessels / Secreted proteome