A cytochrome c oxidase model that consists of a cobalt(II) porphyrin with a copper(I) triazacyclononane macrocycle fastened on the distal face and an imidazole covalently attached to the proximal face has been synthesized and characterized. Redox titrations with molecular oxygen (O2) and cobaltocene were carried out, and O2 was found to bind irreversibly in a 1:1 ratio to the model compound. This O2 adduct (a bridged peroxide) can be fully reduced to the deoxygenated form with four equivalents of cobaltocene. The model compound was adsorbed on an edge-plane graphite electrode, and rotating ring-disk voltammetry was used to monitor the electrocatalytic reduction of O2. Four-electron reduction of O2 was observed at physiological pH.

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Laser capture microdissection was combined with reverse phase protein lysate arrays to quantitatively analyze the ratios of mitochondrial encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits to nuclear encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits, and to correlate the ratios with malignant progression in human prostate tissue specimens. Cytochrome c oxidase subunits I-III comprise the catalytic core of the enzyme and are all synthesized from mitochondrial DNA. The remaining subunits (IV-VIII) are synthesized from cellular nuclear DNA. A significant (P < 0.001, 30/30 prostate cases) shift in the relative concentrations of nuclear encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits IV, Vb, and VIc compared to mitochondrial encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits I and II was noted during the progression of prostate cancer from normal epithelium through premalignant lesions to invasive carcinoma. Significantly, this shift was discovered to begin even in the premalignant stage. Reverse phase protein lysate array-based observations were corroborated with immunohistochemistry, and extended to a few human carcinomas in addition to prostate. This analysis points to a role for nuclear DNA encoded mitochondrial proteins in carcinogenesis; underscoring their potential as targets for therapy while highlighting the need for full characterization of the mitochondrial proteome.

Protein microarray technologies provide a means of investigating the proteomic content of clinical biopsy specimens in order to determine the relative activity of key nodes within cellular signaling pathways. A particular kind of protein microarray, the reverse-phase microarray, is being evaluated in clinical trials because of its potential to utilize limited amounts of cellular material obtained through biopsy. Using this approach, cellular lysates are arrayed in dilution curves on nitrocellulose substrates for subsequent probing with antibodies. To improve the sensitivity and utility of reverse-phase microarrays, we tested whether a new reporter technology as well as a new detection instrument could enhance microarray performance. We describe the use of an inorganic fluorescent nanoparticle conjugated to streptavidin, Qdot 655 Sav, in a reverse-phase protein microarray format for signal pathway profiling. Moreover, a pegylated form of this bioconjugate, Qdot 655 Sav, is found to have superior detection characteristics in assays performed on cellular protein extracts over the nonpegylated form of the bioconjugate. Hyperspectral imaging of the quantum dot microarray enabled unamplified detection of signaling proteins within defined cellular lysates, which indicates that this approach may be amenable to multiplexed, high-throughput reverse-phase protein microarrays in which numerous analytes are measured in parallel within a single spot.