title: Human bronchoalveolar lavage: biofluid analysis with special emphasis on sample preparation.
abstract: Respiratory diseases are an important health problem throughout the world. Whether caused by industrial pollutants, infections, smoking, cancer or metabolic diseases, damage to the lungs and airways often lead to morbidity or death. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) obtained by fiber-optic bronchoscopy is a biofluid mirroring the expression of normally secreted pulmonary proteins and the products of activated cells and destructive processes. The characterization of the proteome within this compartment provides an opportunity to establish temporal and prognostic indicators of airway disease. The objective of this study was to develop methods of analysis of BAL samples, which achieved the highest level of annotation of the expression map of this proteome. We have optimized the process of sample preparation after investigating a variety of techniques including dialysis, ultramembrane filtration, precipitation and gel filtration. We have further studied methods to remove albumin from BAL in order to unmask proteins hidden on two-dimensional gels. In a pilot application of the method, BAL protein profiles obtained from healthy nonsmokers and smokers at risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease showed distinct differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Amelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plymoth
authors.forename: Claes-Göran
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Löfdahl
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekberg-Jansson
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dahlbäck
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Fehniger
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marko-Varga
mesh_terms: D000418:Albumins / Q000032:analysis; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis; D012907:Smoking; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D011506:Proteins; D020543:Proteome