phenol-red-thread-based-sampling-procedure-for-untargeted-tear-fluid

Phenol Red Thread-based Sampling Procedure for Untargeted Tear Fluid Lipidomics in Biomarker Discovery

Tear lipids are crucial for tear film stability and ocular surface health. Changes in tear composition could be associated with ocular and systemic ...

Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Only a few species of swiftlets in the Aerodramus and Collocalia genera can produce edible bird's nests (EBN). These saliva-cemented nests have been consumed as delicacies for centuries in Asia. Many researches have reported the aqueous extract of EBN has epidermal growth factor-like (EGF-like) activity. However, no standalone EGF has been identified in EBN. Moreover, proteome of EBN remained unclear due to lack of genomic data base of an EBN-producing swiftlet to support proteomic analysis of EBN. To address this, the first genome of the EBN-producing swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus, was constructed. Orthology comparison of A. fuciphagus with 10 other avian species were conducted. The results revealed that the number of predicted paralogous coiled-coil domain-containing protein 63 (CCDC63) coding sequences (CDSs) in A. fuciphagus was found to be significantly expanded in comparison to Gallus gallus. There were 3 paralogous CCDC63 genes in the genome of A.fuciphagus. The CDSs predicted from the genome of A. fuciphagus were used to construct a database for proteomic analysis of EBN. In total, 398 proteins have been identified in EBN. The proteome of EBN was significant enriched with extracellular proteins as well as proteins related to extracellular matrix (ECM) organization and immune response. A few proteins with Ca-binding EGF-like domains were found in the proteome of EBN, like fibrillin-1, protocadherin fat 4 and coagulation factor X. No standalone EGF protein was identified. This indicated that the proteins with EGF-like domains might be responsible for the EGF-like activity of EBN. In addition, acidic mammalian chitinase and lysyl oxidase in EBN were found to be active when extracting with distilled water at room temperature. The current study has not just revealed the species-specific genotype of the EBN-producing swiftlet, A. fuciphagus, but also revealed the proteome of EBN. This established an important foundation for subsequently studies on efficacies of EBN.

Revealing the species-specific genotype of the edible bird's nest-producing swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus and the proteome of edible bird's nest.

The green-lipped mussel Perna viridis was utilised for pollution biomonitoring in Victoria Harbour and its adjacent aquaculture area in Hong Kong. P. viridis was collected from a reference site and redeployed at five study sites for five weeks during the dry and wet seasons of 2019. Our study found various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in the mussel tissue, while polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were not detected. P. viridis at the reference site generally displayed lower levels of pollutants. Comparing with previous research in the 1980s and 2000s, we observed substantial reduction in the tissue levels of PAHs, PCBs, OCPs and heavy metals in P. viridis. The human health risks associated with consuming these mussels were determined to be insignificant. Our findings imply that the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme has been effective in improving the water quality in Victoria Harbour and its adjacent aquaculture area.

Bioaccumulation of pollutants in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis: Assessing pollution abatement in Victoria Harbour and its adjacent aquaculture area, Hong Kong, and the minimal human health risks from mussel consumption.

Partially hydrolysed infant formula (pHF) is designed as a cow's milk substitute for the infants with cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) and consuming pHFs for preventing allergenic diseases is still under debate. Possibly, differences in protein fragment and peptide profiles among different brands of pHFs are the key confounder in the cohort studies. Thus, top-down and bottom-up proteomic analysis were conducted to identify the profiles of 4 brands of pHFs available in Hong Kong. Subsequently, allergenicities of the profiles were evaluated in silico. The analysis revealed that pHF-A and pHF-B contains large allergenic fragments of β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin with molecular weights over 14 kDa. Most of peptides in pHF-D were less than 2 kDa and considered as non-allergenic. As the allergenicities varies a lot among different brands of pHFs in Hong Kong, so people need to be well informed before consuming for better managements of CMPA.

Evaluating allergenicity of protein fragments and peptides in partially hydrolysed infant formulas available in Hong Kong.

The corneal epithelium serves as the front barrier against environmental stimuli and pathogens on the ocular surface. A comprehensive protein profile of the corneal epithelium would be crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms that are related to corneal disease. This work demonstrated a library-free data-independent acquisition (DIA) approach across different mass spectrometers and proteomic software to build a comprehensive proteomic dataset for human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs). With the combinational use of different data-independent acquisition technologies of multiple mass spectrometers, including Sciex ZenoTOF 7600 (DIA-SWATH), Bruker TimsTOF Pro2 (DIA-PASEF), and ThermoFisher Orbitrap Fusion Lumos (DIA-HRMS1), protein identification and quantification were performed with superior sensitivity and resolution. By using a library-free DIA approach, this study constructed a more diverse and unbiased proteomic profile of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs), comprising 11,954 protein groups (1% FDR). This represents the largest corneal proteome reported to date. All raw proteomic data were deposited to ProteomeXchange Consortium via Proteomics Identifications database (PRIDE) with the dataset identifier accession number PXD059451. Our findings hold the potential to enhance future understanding of corneal pathologies and transformative therapeutics.

Article	Year
Revealing the species-specific genotype of the edible bird's nest-producing swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus and the proteome of edible bird's nest. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.)\| PubMed ID: 36076383	2022
Bioaccumulation of pollutants in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis: Assessing pollution abatement in Victoria Harbour and its adjacent aquaculture area, Hong Kong, and the minimal human ... Marine pollution bulletin\| PubMed ID: 38387219	2024
Evaluating allergenicity of protein fragments and peptides in partially hydrolysed infant formulas available in Hong Kong. Food chemistry\| PubMed ID: 40409078	2025
A Comprehensive Proteome of Human Corneal Epithelial Cells Constructed by Cross-platform DIA-Mass Spectrometry. Scientific data\| PubMed ID: 40410165	2025

Hang-Kin Kong

Biography

JoVE Journal Publications

Other Publications