title: Heavy hitting: Using water to label humans.
abstract: Monitoring protein dynamics, compared to measuring static protein expression profiles taken with snapshot evaluations, have recently been the focus of proteomics studies examining tissue or blood samples where time course changes occur. Using deuterium oxide ((2) H2 O) to label amino acids is a useful method to monitor protein turnover rates. The synthesis rate for individual proteins is calculated from the rate of (2) H incorporation into specific proteins analyzed by high resolution MS. In this issue, Wang and colleagues measured the plasma protein turnover dynamics in healthy humans by in vivo (2) H2 O labeling [Wang, D. et al., Proteomics Clin. Appl. 2014, 8, 610-619]. The authors developed and validated a safe and accessible (2) H2 O administration protocol to record the turnover dynamics of 542 plasma proteins using MS. Their study demonstrates a promising new way to evaluate plasma protein dynamics in clinical trials where such knowledge could help for prognosis and evaluating treatment efficacy.
authors.affiliation: San Antonio Cardiovascular Proteomics Center and Mississippi Center for Heart Research, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
authors.forename: Yonggang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Andriy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yabluchanskiy
authors.forename: Merry L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lindsey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017666:Deuterium Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D040901:Proteomics; D051381:Rats; D012449:Safety
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D017666:Deuterium Oxide
keywords: Deuterium oxide; MS; Matrix metalloproteinase; Protein