Proteomics/Metabolomics in the investigation of medical disorders

With the advent of proteomics, the screening of proteins as potential biomarkers has achieved important progresses. Detection and identification of proteins in different organs/tissues, with the aim of understanding whether they represent an attractive tool for monitoring alterations in these districts, is currently an area of increasing interest.

Clinical proteomics involves the application of proteomic technologies on clinical specimens such as biological fluids. In this context the current work of our laboratory is focused on the identification in biological fluids (sputum, exhaled breath condensate, broncoalveolar lavage fluid), lymphoblastoid cells and cellular extracts of biomarkers of disorders of different origin. In particular the following three lines of investigation are carried out:

(i)    Study of proteomics/metabolomics of lung diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, α1-antitrypsin deficiency, sarcoidosis, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome)

(ii)   Proteomic analysis of lymphoblastoid cells from patients affected by a rare neurodegenerative disorder (Nasu-Hakola disease).

(iii)  Proteomic analysis of salivary glands and ovaries from the tick Ixodes ricinus.

Selected Papers

Ixodes ricinus and its endosymbiont Midichloria mitochondrii: a comparative proteomic analysis of salivary glands and ovaries. Di Venere M, Fumagalli M, Cafiso A, De Marco L, Epis S, Plantard O, Bardoni A, Salvini R, Viglio S, Bazzocchi C, Iadarola P, Sassera D.  PLoS One. 2015, 10(9): e0138842.

Proteomic analysis of lymphoblastoid cells from Nasu-Hakola patients: a step forward in our understanding of this neurodegenerative disorder. Giuliano S, Agresta AM, De Palma A, Viglio S, Mauri P, Fumagalli M, Iadarola P, Montalbetti L, Salvini R, Bardoni A.  PLoS One. 2014, 9(12): e110073.