Preparation of Mitochondria from Ovarian Cancer Tissues and Control Ovarian Tissues for Quantitative Proteomics Analysis

Summary

This article presents a protocol of differential-speed centrifugation in combination with density gradient centrifugation to separate mitochondria from human ovarian cancer tissues and control ovarian tissues for quantitative proteomics analysis, resulting in a high-quality mitochondrial sample and high-throughput and high-reproducibility quantitative proteomics analysis of a human ovarian cancer mitochondrial proteome.

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is a common gynecologic cancer with high mortality but unclear molecular mechanism. Most ovarian cancers are diagnosed in the advanced stage, which seriously hampers therapy. Mitochondrial changes are a hallmark of human ovarian cancers, and mitochondria are the centers of energy metabolism, cell signaling, and oxidative stress. In-depth insights into the changes of the mitochondrial proteome in ovarian cancers compared to control ovarian tissue will benefit in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer, and the discovery of effective and reliable biomarkers and therapeutic targets. An effective mitochondrial preparation method coupled with an isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) quantitative proteomics are presented here to analyze human ovarian cancer and control mitochondrial proteomes, including differential-speed centrifugation, density gradient centrifugation, quality assessment of mitochondrial samples, protein digestion with trypsin, iTRAQ labeling, strong cation exchange fractionation (SCX), liquid chromatography (LC), tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), database analysis, and quantitative analysis of mitochondrial proteins. Many proteins have been successfully identified to maximize the coverage of the human ovarian cancer mitochondrial proteome and to achieve the differentially expressed mitochondrial protein profile in human ovarian cancers.

Introduction

Ovarian cancer is a common gynecologic cancer with high mortality but unclear molecular mechanism^1,2. Most of ovarian cancers are diagnosed in the advanced stage, which seriously hampers therapy. Mitochondrial changes are a hallmark of human ovarian cancers, and mitochondria are the centers of energy metabolism, cell signaling, and oxidative stress^3,4,5,6,7. In-depth insights into the changes of the mitochondrial proteome in ovarian cancers compared....

Protocol

Ovarian tissue samples including ovarian cancer tissues (n = 7) and normal control ovarian tissues (n = 11) were used for this protocol. The present protocol^3,4,5 is approved by the Xiangya Hospital Medical Ethics Committee of Central South University, China.

1. Preparation of mitochondria from human ovarian cancer tissues

1. Prepare 250 mL of the mitochondrial isolation buffer by mixing 210 mM mannitol, 70 mM sucrose, 100 mM potassium chloride (KCl), 50 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), 0.1 mM ethylene glycol bis(2-aminoe....

Results

There was a difference in the preparation of the mitochondria from ovarian cancer tissues and control ovarian tissues. This study found that it was much easier to prepare mitochondria from ovarian cancer tissues than from control ovarian tissues^3,4. Some improvements had to be made to the protocol for the preparation of mitochondria from control ovarian tissues. First, prior to tissue homogenization, it was necessary to add 8 mL o.......

Discussion

Mitochondrial alterations are a hallmark of ovarian cancer. Preparation of high-quality mitochondrial samples from human ovarian cancer and control tissues for large-scale quantitative proteomics benefit the in-depth understanding of mitochondrial function in ovarian cancer pathogenesis and mitochondrial molecular network changes, and help clarify its molecular mechanism for subsequent discovery of target therapy and effective biomarkers based on mitochondria^4,5<.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
BCA protein assay kit	Vazyme	E112	BCA protein assay kit is a special 3-component version of our popular BCA reagents, optimized to measure (A562nm) total protein concentration of dilute protein solutions (0.5 to 20 micrograms/ml).
Bovine serum albumin (BSA)	Solarbio	A8020-5G	Heat shock fraction, Australia origin, protease free, low fatty acid, low IgG, pH 7, ≥98%
Centrifuge	XiangYi	TDZ4--WS
CHAPS	Sigma	C9426-5G	BioReagent, suitable for electrophoresis, ≥98% (HPLC) (Sigma-Aldrich)
Diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA)	Sigma	798681-100G	Anhydrous, free-flowing, Redi-Dri, ≥98%
DTT	Sigma	10197777001	1,4-Dithiothreitol
Easy nLC	Proxeon Biosystems (now Thermo Fisher Scientific)
Ethylen glycol bis(2-aminoethyl ether)tetraacetic acid (EGTA)	Sigma	E0396-10G	BioXtra, ≥97 .0%
Homogenizer	SilentShake	HYQ-3110
iTRAQ reagent kit	Applied Biosystems		Applied Biosystems iTRAQ Reagents–Chemistry Reference Guide, P/N 4351918A
Low-temperature super-speed centrifuger	Eppendorf	5424R
Mannitol	Macklin	M813424-100G	Mannitol is a polyol (polyhydric alcohol) produced from hydrogenation from fructose that functions as a sweetener, humectant, and bulking agent. It has low hygroscopicity and poor oil solvency.
MASCOT search engine	Matrix Science, London, UK; version 2.2
Nagarse	Solarbio	P9090
N-hydroxysuccinimide (SDT)	Sigma	56480-25G	Purum, ≥97.0% (T)
Nycodenz	Alere/Axis-Shield	1002424-1
Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) protease inhibitor	Solarbio	P0100-1ML	PMSF is a protease inhibitor that reacts with serine residues to inhibit trypsin, chymotrypsin, thrombin, and papain.
Potassium chloride	Macklin	P816354-25G	Potassium chloride, KCI, also known as potassium muriate and sylvite, is a colorless crystalline solid with a salty taste that melts at 776°C (1420 OF). It is soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. Potassium chloride is used in fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, photography, and as a salt substitute.
Proteome Discover 1.4	Matrix Science, London, UK
PVDF membrane	Millipore	05317	It is 1 roll, 26.5 cm x 1.875 m, 0.45 µm pore size, hydrophobic PVDF transfer membrane with low background fluorescence for western blotting. It is compatible with visible and infrared fluorescent probes.
Q Exactive mass spectrometer	Thermo Fisher Scientific
SCX column	Sigma	58997	It is 5-μm particle size, length 5cm × i.d. 4.6mm (Supelco).
Sodium orthovanadate (V)	Macklin	S817660-25G	Sodium orthovanadate (Vanadate) is a general competitive inhibitor for protein phosphotyrosyl phosphatases. The inhibition by sodium orthovanadate is reversible upon the addition of EDTA or by dilution.
Sucrose	Macklin	S824459-500G	Vetec reagent grade, 99%
Thiourea	Sigma	62-56-6	ACS reagent, ≥99.0%
Tris base	Sigma	10708976001	TRIS base is useful in the pH range of 7.0-9.0. It has a pKa of 8.1 at 25°C.
Trypsin (cell culture use)	Gibco	25200-056	This liquid formulation of trypsin contains EDTA and phenol red. Gibco Trypsin-EDTA is made from trypsin powder, an irradiated mixture of proteases derived from porcine pancreas. Due to its digestive strength, trypsin is widely used for cell dissociation, routine cell culture passaging, and primary tissue dissociation.
Urea	Sigma	U5378-100G	powder, BioReagent, for molecular biology, suitable for cell culture