title: Proteomic Analysis of the Uterosacral Ligament in Postmenopausal Women with and without Pelvic Organ Prolapse.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major health problem in adult women that involves many factors. No proteomic analysis has been conducted exclusively in POP patients. This study aimed to identify the differential expression of proteins that may be involved in POP by proteomic analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Samples of the uterosacral ligament (USL) were collected from five POP patients and five non-POP patients matched according to age, parity, and menopausal status and analyzed using two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to verify the mRNA expression of proteins that showed differential expression in the proteomic analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Proteins differentially expressed between POP and non-POP patients were detected. Eight proteins that were down-regulated in the POP group were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS. These proteins included electron transfer flavoprotein, apolipoprotein A-I, actin, transgelin, cofilin-1, cyclophilin A, myosin, and galectin-1, and their expression was verified by qRT-PCR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using comparative proteomics, we identified eight differentially expressed proteins (including four cytoskeleton proteins and three proteins related to apoptosis) in the USL that may be involved in apoptosis associated with the tissue effects in POP pathophysiology.
authors.forename: Zhi-Jing
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jing-He
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000368:Aged; D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I / Q000378:metabolism; D021984:Cyclophilin A / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005420:Flavoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D037483:Galectin 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008022:Ligaments / Q000378:metabolism*; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism; D056887:Pelvic Organ Prolapse / Q000378:metabolism*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012447:Sacrum / Q000378:metabolism*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014599:Uterus / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I; D005420:Flavoproteins; D037483:Galectin 1; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D009124:Muscle Proteins; C051615:transgelin; D009218:Myosins; D021984:Cyclophilin A