Dr. Belén Peral´s research group has been awarded with the FSEEN 2018 PRIZE (Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition) to the best article published in the field of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome.
In recent years, ageing-associated diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, have been increasingly associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the impact of these conditions on adipose tissue mitochondria remained to be elucidated. Dr. Belén Peral, a biochemist from the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols, CSIC-UAM (Madrid, Spain) has led a multidisciplinary team that included physicians from two hospitals (Clínico San Carlos and Gregorio Marañón, both from Madrid) and the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Proteomics at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC, Madrid), that has shed some light into this important issue. For that, the researchers investigated the impact of type 2 diabetes and ageing on the proteome of mitochondria isolated from adipocytes of visceral adipose tissue biopsies taken from obese patients. Results unveiled marked changes on these mitochondria in association with diabetes, which turned out to be even more noticeable than ageing-related alterations. By resorting to state-of-the-art proteomics approaches, the authors were capable to quantitate not only protein abundance changes, but also alterations to protein oxidation levels. Data suggested an inverse correlation between protein oxidation and protein abundance levels as a consequence of both ageing and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, careful examination of the proteomics profiles in the two conditions points out that defective protein import to the mitochondrion could play a relevant role in the development of type 2 diabetes and ageing. This pioneer work in the field of Endocrinology paves the way to the application of redox proteomics tools to other model systems. This would help to develop advanced integrative models of proteome regulation for other pathologies as well as novel therapies based on the maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis.
Reference
Gómez-Serrano M*, Camafeita E*, López JA, Rubio MA, Bretón I, García Consuegra I, García Santos E, Lago J, Sánchez Pernaute A, Torres A, Vázquez J, Peral B. 2017. Differential proteomic and oxidative profiles unveil dysfunctional protein import to adipocyte mitochondria in obesity-associated aging and diabetes. Redox Biol. 11:415-428.
* These authors contributed equally to the work