Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for Nano Bio-Detection (AIM-HI), National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Ming-Hsiung, Chia-Yi62142, Taiwan.
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung80708, Taiwan.
Chem Res Toxicol. 2022 Dec 19;35(12):2260-2270. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.2c00262. Epub 2022 Nov 11.
Exposure to acrolein, the smallest α, β-unsaturated aldehyde, in humans originates from cigarette smoking and other environmental sources, food cooking, and endogenous lipid peroxidation and metabolism. The protein modification caused by acrolein is associated with various diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, acrolein-modified human hemoglobin was reduced by sodium borohydride. Thus, three types of modifications, that is, Schiff base, Michael addition, and formyl-dehydropiperidion adducts, were converted to the corresponding stable adducts, leading to mass increases of 40.0313, 58.0419, and 96.0575 Da, respectively. These stable acrolein-modified hemoglobin peptides were identified by nanoflow liquid chromatography coupled to a high-resolution nanoelectrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Among the 26 different types and sites of modifications, 15 of them showed a dose-dependent increase with increasing concentrations of acrolein. To investigate the role of acrolein-induced modifications in smoking and oral cancer, the 15 dose-responsive acrolein-modified peptides, together with three ethylated peptides previously identified, were quantified in oral cancer patients, healthy smokers, and healthy nonsmokers. The results reveal that the relative extents of the Michael-type adduct at α-Lys-16, α-His-50, and β-Lys-59 are significantly higher in smokers (oral cancer and healthy) than in nonsmokers. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of these peptides range from 0.7500 to 0.9375, indicating the ability to discriminate smokers from nonsmokers. Additionally, these acrolein-modified peptides correlate with three ethylated peptides at the -termini of α- and β-globin, as well as β-His-77, and with the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Therefore, measuring the reduced Michael adducts at α-Lys-16, α-His-50, and β-Lys-59 of hemoglobin from one drop of blood by this sensitive and specific method may reflect the increase of acrolein exposure due to cigarette smoking.
丙烯醛是最小的α,β-不饱和醛,人类接触丙烯醛主要来源于吸烟和其他环境来源、食物烹饪以及内源性脂质过氧化和代谢。丙烯醛引起的蛋白质修饰与各种疾病有关,包括癌症、心血管和神经退行性疾病。在这项研究中,用硼氢化钠还原丙烯醛修饰的人血红蛋白。因此,三种类型的修饰,即席夫碱、迈克尔加成和甲酰-脱水哌啶酮加合物,分别转化为相应的稳定加合物,导致质量分别增加 40.0313、58.0419 和 96.0575 Da。这些稳定的丙烯醛修饰的血红蛋白肽通过纳流液相色谱与高分辨率纳升电喷雾串联质谱联用进行鉴定。在 26 种不同类型和位置的修饰中,有 15 种随着丙烯醛浓度的增加呈剂量依赖性增加。为了研究丙烯醛诱导的修饰在吸烟和口腔癌中的作用,在口腔癌患者、健康吸烟者和健康不吸烟者中定量检测了 15 种剂量反应性丙烯醛修饰肽,以及之前鉴定的三种乙基化肽。结果表明,吸烟者(口腔癌和健康)中 α-Lys-16、α-His-50 和 β-Lys-59 的 Michael 型加合物的相对程度明显高于不吸烟者。这些肽的受试者工作特征曲线下面积范围为 0.7500 至 0.9375,表明它们能够区分吸烟者和不吸烟者。此外,这些丙烯醛修饰肽与 α-和 β-球蛋白末端的三个乙基化肽以及 β-His-77 以及每天吸烟的支数相关。因此,通过这种敏感和特异的方法测量一滴血中血红蛋白的 α-Lys-16、α-His-50 和 β-Lys-59 的还原 Michael 加合物可能反映了由于吸烟导致丙烯醛暴露的增加。