Objective
For the purpose of providing evidence for the treatment of osteoporosis and osteopenia, this study retrospectively identified succinylationâmodified sites and proteins in postmenopausal women, and bioinformatics analysis were performed.
Methods
From January 2016 to June 2018, a total of 30 postmenopausal women aged from 55 to 70âyears old were assigned to three groups: 10 cases with osteoporosis; 10 cases with osteopenia; and 10 cases with normal bone mass. Subsequently, the serum samples were collected from all cases for succinylâproteome. Measures comprised labelâfree quantitative analysis, succinylation enrichment techniques, the liquid chromatographâmass spectrometer/mass spectrometer (LCâMS/MS) methods, and bioinformatics.
Results
A total of 113 succinylation sites on 35 proteins were identified based on quantitative information. The variation of the different multiple folds were more than 1.2 times as a significant increase for upâregulated and less than 1/1.2 times as a significant decrease for downâregulated. Among the quantified succinylation sites, 66 were upâregulated and 11 downâregulated in the Osteopenia/Normal comparison group, 24 were upâregulated and 44 downâregulated in the Osteoporosis/Osteopenia comparison group, 45 were upâregulated and 32 downâregulated in the Osteoporosis/Normal comparison group. Among the quantified succinylation proteins, 24 were upâregulated and 7 downâregulated in the Osteopenia/Normal comparison group, 15 were upâregulated and 20 downâregulated in the Osteoporosis/Osteopenia comparison group, 20 were upâregulated and 17 downâregulated in the Osteoporosis/Normal comparison group. The percentage of proteins differed in immune response, signaling pathway, proteolysis, lymphocyte, leukocyte, and cell activation. Four differentially expressed proteins (apolipoprotein AâI, apolipoprotein AâII, hemoglobin subunit alpha, and haptoglobin) contained quantitative information; they were mediated with receptors, factors, mechanisms, that related to bone metabolism. Hemoglobin subunit alpha was screened for diagnosis of osteopenia.
Conclusions
The succinylâproteome experimental data indicated that apolipoprotein AâI, apolipoprotein AâII, hemoglobin subunit alpha, and haptoglobin were valuable for diagnosis and treatment in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and osteopenia.