Proteomic characterization of human coronary thrombus in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction

Acute myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation (STEMI) initiates with intraluminal thrombosis and results in total occlusion of the coronary artery. To date, characterization of the coronary thrombus proteome in STEMI patients has not been yet accomplished. Therefore, we aimed to perform an in-depth proteomic characterization of the human coronary thrombus by means of three different approaches: 2-DE followed by mass spectrometry (MALDI MS/MS), 1-DE combined either with liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry in a MALDI TOF/TOF (LC-MALDI-MS/MS), or in a LTQ-Orbitrap (LC-ESI-MS/MS). This approach allowed us to identify a total of 708 proteins in the thrombus. Expression in coronary thrombi (n=20) of 14 proteins was verified, and the expression of fibrin and 6 cell markers (platelets, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, T-cells and B-cells) quantified by selected reaction monitoring (SRM). A positive correlation of 5 proteins (fermitin homolog 3, thrombospondin-1, myosin-9, beta parvin and ras-related protein Rap-1b) with CD41 was found, pointing out the potential activation of a focal adhesion pathway within thrombus platelets. DIDO1 protein was found to correlate negatively with thrombus fibrin, and was found up-regulated in the plasma of these STEMI patients, which may constitute a starting point for further analyses in the search for biomarkers of thrombosis. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The proteomic characterization of the human coronary thrombus may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in acute coronary syndrome, and thus pave the road for the identification of new therapeutic targets that may help addressing this and other thrombotic diseases. A novel methodology to characterize thrombus composition and expression of a sub-group of proteins is hereby described, which allowed linking protein expression with cellular and ECM matrix composition of the thrombus. Five proteins (fermitin homolog 3, thrombospondin-1, myosin-9, beta parvin and ras-related protein Rap-1b) ...