Cysteine Sensor Probes Role of Oxidative Stress in Disease

Oxidative stress, a phenomenon caused by the toxic effects of reactive oxygen species on cells, is associated with many diseases, including Alzheimer's, heart disease, and cancer, and has been suggested to be the main cause of aging.

In an article published online on February 14, 2008, in the journal Proceedings of the [U.S.] National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) scientists, led by associate Prof. Ursula Jakob, reported a new method that enables observation of the effects of oxidative stress on proteins. The new technique, called OxICAT, makes it possible to simultaneously quantify the oxidation state of thousands of different proteins.

Many proteins that are not permanently damaged by reactive oxygen species use the amino acid cysteine to sense oxidative stress. Prof. Jakob and her colleagues used this amino acid as a reactive oxygen sensor. They discovered that many of the proteins that they identified were necessary for survival of cells under conditions of oxidative stress.

"Because oxidative stress plays such a prominent role in all these diseases, we want to understand why some cells and organisms can cope with the dangers of oxidative stress, while others die,” said Lars Leichert, a postdoctoral research fellow in Prof Jakob's lab and first author of the study. Such insights will lead to the development of more powerful and effective anti-oxidant strategies.


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