A study on the pathogenic mechanism of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and search for efficient biomarkers using proteomic/metabolomic analysis

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24659300
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Hygiene
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: OIKAWA Shinji 三重大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (10277006)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TOMIMOTO Hidekazu 三重大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 教授 (80324648)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 筋萎縮性側索硬化症 / 酸化ストレス / 脳脊髄液 / プロテオーム / バイオマーカー / カルボニル化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common motor neuron disease characterized by progressive degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons, which results in paralysis of the limbs and/or the bulbar musculature. However, because there are no specific biomarkers for ALS, it is difficult to diagnose this disease at early stages. Therefore, we compared the protein profile in cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) of ALS patients and control subjects by two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoretic analysis (2D DIGE) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with immunochemical detection of protein carbonyls (2D Oxyblot). We showed that 4 proteins (serotransferrin, etc) were increased in CSF of ALS patients compared with control subjects. In addition, we found that carbonyl modification of pigment epithelium-derived factor, serotransferrin, and so forth was increased in CSF of ALS patients. This study presumes some of these proteins could be candidates of biomarkers for ALS.

Free Research Field

分子予防医学