PhD Scientific Days 2023

Molecular Sciences II.

The Protein Corona of Extracellular Vesicles in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Text of the abstract

Introduction:
Extracellular vesicles (EV) are crucial mediators of intercellular communication. EVs may serve as biomarkers in several diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other immunological conditions.
Aims:
Exploring the relationship between EV protein corona and the diagnosis, prognosis, activity or pathogenesis of RA.
Methods:
Patients with high titer of ACPA (1000 IU/mL<) and healthy donors were selected for our initial experiments. We isolated the EVs by density gradient ultracentrifugation and size exclusion chromatography from human plasma. We characterized the EV samples based on the MISEV 2018 guidelines. The samples were divided into two equal parts: one aliquot was left untreated and the other was exposed to our protein corona-stripping buffer. We analyzed the proteomic composition of the EV samples with mass spectometry.
Results:
We identified a high number of bona fide EV proteins as well as corona proteins in the EV samples. Importantly, several citrullinated proteins were also identified in the EV protein corona of EVs from RA patients.
Our analysis provides the first experimental evidence for the presence of citrullinated proteins in the biomolecular corona of EVs. These data may suggest a role of EVs in the pathogenesis of RA.
Funding:
SE 250+ Excellence PhD Scholarship