Spectral counting has become a commonly used approach for measuring protein abundance in label-free shotgun proteomics. At the same time, the development of data analysis methods has lagged behind. ...Currently most studies utilizing spectral counts rely on simple data transforms and posthoc corrections of conventional signal-to-noise ratio statistics. However, these adjustments can neither handle the bias toward high abundance proteins nor deal with the drawbacks due to the limited number of replicates. We present a novel statistical framework (QSpec) for the significance analysis of differential expression with extensions to a variety of experimental design factors and adjustments for protein properties. Using synthetic and real experimental data sets, we show that the proposed method outperforms conventional statistical methods that search for differential expression for individual proteins. We illustrate the flexibility of the model by analyzing a data set with a complicated experimental design involving cellular localization and time course.
Failure of the glomerular filtration barrier, primarily by loss of slit diaphragm architecture, underlies nephrotic syndrome in minimal change disease. The etiology remains unknown. The efficacy of B ...cell-targeted therapies in some patients, together with the known proteinuric effect of anti-nephrin antibodies in rodent models, prompted us to hypothesize that nephrin autoantibodies may be present in patients with minimal change disease.
We evaluated sera from patients with minimal change disease, enrolled in the Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) cohort and from our own institutions, for circulating nephrin autoantibodies by indirect ELISA and by immunoprecipitation of full-length nephrin from human glomerular extract or a recombinant purified extracellular domain of human nephrin. We also evaluated renal biopsies from our institutions for podocyte-associated punctate IgG colocalizing with nephrin by immunofluorescence.
In two independent patient cohorts, we identified circulating nephrin autoantibodies during active disease that were significantly reduced or absent during treatment response in a subset of patients with minimal change disease. We correlated the presence of these autoantibodies with podocyte-associated punctate IgG in renal biopsies from our institutions. We also identified a patient with steroid-dependent childhood minimal change disease that progressed to end stage kidney disease; she developed a massive post-transplant recurrence of proteinuria that was associated with high pretransplant circulating nephrin autoantibodies.
Our discovery of nephrin autoantibodies in a subset of adults and children with minimal change disease aligns with published animal studies and provides further support for an autoimmune etiology. We propose a new molecular classification of nephrin autoantibody minimal change disease to serve as a framework for instigation of precision therapeutics for these patients.
Affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (AP-MS) is a widely used approach for the identification of protein-protein interactions. However, for any given protein of interest, determining ...which of the identified polypeptides represent bona fide interactors versus those that are background contaminants (for example, proteins that interact with the solid-phase support, affinity reagent or epitope tag) is a challenging task. The standard approach is to identify nonspecific interactions using one or more negative-control purifications, but many small-scale AP-MS studies do not capture a complete, accurate background protein set when available controls are limited. Fortunately, negative controls are largely bait independent. Hence, aggregating negative controls from multiple AP-MS studies can increase coverage and improve the characterization of background associated with a given experimental protocol. Here we present the contaminant repository for affinity purification (the CRAPome) and describe its use for scoring protein-protein interactions. The repository (currently available for Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and computational tools are freely accessible at http://www.crapome.org/.
We present 'significance analysis of interactome' (SAINT), a computational tool that assigns confidence scores to protein-protein interaction data generated using affinity purification-mass ...spectrometry (AP-MS). The method uses label-free quantitative data and constructs separate distributions for true and false interactions to derive the probability of a bona fide protein-protein interaction. We show that SAINT is applicable to data of different scales and protein connectivity and allows transparent analysis of AP-MS data.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a growing health burden currently affecting 10-15% of adults worldwide. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as a marker of kidney function is commonly used to ...diagnose CKD. We analyze eGFR data from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study and Michigan Genomics Initiative and perform a GWAS meta-analysis with public summary statistics, more than doubling the sample size of previous meta-analyses. We identify 147 loci (53 novel) associated with eGFR, including genes involved in transcriptional regulation, kidney development, cellular signaling, metabolism, and solute transport. Additionally, sex-stratified analysis identifies one locus with more significant effects in women than men. Using genetic risk scores constructed from these eGFR meta-analysis results, we show that associated variants are generally predictive of CKD with only modest improvements in detection compared with other known clinical risk factors. Collectively, these results yield additional insight into the genetic factors underlying kidney function and progression to CKD.
The molecular mechanisms of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors (SGLT2i) remain incompletely understood. Single-cell RNA sequencing and morphometric data were collected from research ...kidney biopsies donated by young persons with type 2 diabetes (T2D), aged 12 to 21 years, and healthy controls (HCs). Participants with T2D were obese and had higher estimated glomerular filtration rates and mesangial and glomerular volumes than HCs. Ten T2D participants had been prescribed SGLT2i (T2Di+) and 6 not (T2Di-). Transcriptional profiles showed SGLT2 expression exclusively in the proximal tubular (PT) cluster with highest expression in T2Di(-) patients. However, transcriptional alterations with SGLT2i treatment were seen across nephron segments, particularly in the distal nephron. SGLT2i treatment was associated with suppression of transcripts in the glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and tricarboxylic acid cycle pathways in PT, but had the opposite effect in thick ascending limb. Transcripts in the energy-sensitive mTORC1-signaling pathway returned toward HC levels in all tubular segments in T2Di(+), consistent with a diabetes mouse model treated with SGLT2i. Decreased levels of phosphorylated S6 protein in proximal and distal tubules in T2Di(+) patients confirmed changes in mTORC1 pathway activity. We propose that SGLT2i treatment benefits the kidneys by mitigating diabetes-induced metabolic perturbations via suppression of mTORC1 signaling in kidney tubules.
We describe Abacus, a computational tool for extracting spectral counts from MS/MS data sets. The program aggregates data from multiple experiments, adjusts spectral counts to accurately account for ...peptides shared across multiple proteins, and performs common normalization steps. It can also output the spectral count data at the gene level, thus simplifying the integration and comparison between gene and protein expression data. Abacus is compatible with the widely used Trans‐Proteomic Pipeline suite of tools and comes with a graphical user interface making it easy to interact with the program. The main aim of Abacus is to streamline the analysis of spectral count data by providing an automated, easy to use solution for extracting this information from proteomic data sets for subsequent, more sophisticated statistical analysis.
Summary
Calorie restriction (CR) increases lifespan in organisms ranging from budding yeast through mammals. Mitochondrial adaptation represents a key component of the response to CR. Molecular ...mechanisms underlying this adaptation are largely unknown. Here we show that lysine acetylation of mitochondrial proteins is altered during CR in a tissue‐specific fashion. Via large‐scale mass spectrometry screening, we identify 72 candidate proteins involved in a variety of metabolic pathways with altered acetylation during CR. Mitochondrial acetylation changes may play an important role in the pro‐longevity CR response.
Aberrant enhancer activation is a key mechanism driving oncogene expression in many cancers. While much is known about the regulation of larger chromosome domains in eukaryotes, the details of ...enhancer-promoter interactions remain poorly understood. Recent work suggests co-activators like BRD4 and Mediator have little impact on enhancer-promoter interactions. In leukemias controlled by the MLL-AF4 fusion protein, we use the ultra-high resolution technique Micro-Capture-C (MCC) to show that MLL-AF4 binding promotes broad, high-density regions of enhancer-promoter interactions at a subset of key targets. These enhancers are enriched for transcription elongation factors like PAF1C and FACT, and the loss of these factors abolishes enhancer-promoter contact. This work not only provides an additional model for how MLL-AF4 is able to drive high levels of transcription at key genes in leukemia but also suggests a more general model linking enhancer-promoter crosstalk and transcription elongation.
Kidney organoids are a promising model to study kidney disease, but their use is constrained by limited knowledge of their functional protein expression profile. Here, we define the organoid proteome ...and transcriptome trajectories over culture duration and upon exposure to TNFα, a cytokine stressor. Older organoids increase deposition of extracellular matrix but decrease expression of glomerular proteins. Single cell transcriptome integration reveals that most proteome changes localize to podocytes, tubular and stromal cells. TNFα treatment of organoids results in 322 differentially expressed proteins, including cytokines and complement components. Transcript expression of these 322 proteins is significantly higher in individuals with poorer clinical outcomes in proteinuric kidney disease. Key TNFα-associated protein (C3 and VCAM1) expression is increased in both human tubular and organoid kidney cell populations, highlighting the potential for organoids to advance biomarker development. By integrating kidney organoid omic layers, incorporating a disease-relevant cytokine stressor and comparing with human data, we provide crucial evidence for the functional relevance of the kidney organoid model to human kidney disease.
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