title: Neuroproteomics: an insight into ALS.
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of unknown aetiology. Diagnosis is made through physical examination, electrophysiological findings, and by excluding other conditions. There is not a single biomarker that concludes the diagnosis. The aim of this  study was to investigate differentially expressed proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ALS patients compared to control subjects, with the purpose to identify a panel of possible biomarkers for the disease. The differentially expressed spots/proteins were submitted to two-dimensional (2D)  electrophoresis and recognized with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Parkin-like and many iron and zinc binding were some of the proteins found in ALS CSF. Parkin is a ligase involved in ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and  mutations in the parkin gene are the most common cause of recessive familial Parkinson's disease. Iron and zinc are involved with many important metabolic processes and are related to neurodegenerative disease. Common features of ALS comprise failure of the ubiquitin-proteasome  system and increased levels of metal ions in the brain. Therefore, the identification of these proteins can be a significant step in ALS research. These and other identified proteins are discussed in this study.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Sergipe, Brazil. deise_mendonca@ufs.br
authors.forename: D M F
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pizzati
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mostacada
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: de S Martins
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ayres Sá
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moura Neto
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chimelli
authors.forename: A M B
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Martinez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends