The use of in-strip digestion for fast proteomic analysis on tear fluid from dry eye patients

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 3;13(8):e0200702. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200702. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Tear is an accessible fluid for exploring biomarkers of dry eye disease. This study describes a fast proteomic method by LC-Q-orbitrap-MS analysis with in-strip digestion and investigates the tear proteome of dry eye patients. Schirmer's strips were used for collection of tear fluid from patients. These strips were cut into pieces and directly digested with trypsin before mass spectrometry analysis. The data showed that more than 50 proteins were found in tear fluid from dry eye patients. Gene Ontology (GO) annotation showed that most of proteins were transfer/carrier proteins, hydrolyses, enzyme modulators and signaling molecules. Targeted proteomics strategy revealed that 18 proteins were differentially expressed in dry eye patients. Furthermore, it was showed that the common post-translational modification in tear proteins is deamidation of Asn.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dry Eye Syndromes / metabolism*
  • Dry Eye Syndromes / pathology
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / methods*
  • Eye Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Proteome / metabolism*
  • Proteomics / methods*
  • Tears / metabolism*

Substances

  • Eye Proteins
  • Proteome
  • tear proteins

Grants and funding

This study is supported, in part, by a grant of Zhejiang Science and Technology Projects (2018264383), Zhejiang Health Bureau Fund (2018KY393) and Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016ZA119). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.