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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2008;28:1214.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

A Central Resource for Platelet Proteomics

Gerard Cagney; James McRedmond

From the Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland.

Correspondence to Gerard Cagney, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. E-mail gerard.cagney@ucd.ie

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

An impressive but bewildering array of data are now available, at the touch of a button, for every gene and protein in the human body. This information is the harvest of the so-called "omics" technologies, which began with the human genome sequencing project and gained from subsequent efforts to characterize the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome of individual cell types. Those coming from the perspective of vascular biology, however, might ask how does one begin to use this information to gain deeper insights into disease? In this issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Dittrich and coworkers describe a database, PlateletWeb, that goes some way toward meeting that need.

See accompanying article on page 1326

In the last 5 years, our baseline knowledge of the core components of human platelets has expanded considerably. Several key studies have described the mRNA species found in platelets.^1–4 Because the proteome is reflected in the transcriptome,⁵ these studies represent a catalogue of potential platelet proteins. In addition, selected platelet messages are translated into protein after activation, regulating the inflammatory and hemostatic responses of the platelet.^6,7 Thus, the platelet transcriptome, inherited from precursor megakaryocytes, both reflects and affects platelet function. Indeed, comparative transcriptional studies have revealed differences in the platelet make-up between sexes⁸ and in disease states.⁹ Because drug treatments for hypertension can result in changes in megakaryocyte ploidy and platelet size¹⁰ and alter the platelet proteome,¹¹ understanding the regulation of platelet messages and their translation—in the platelet and the megakaryocyte—may lead to better treatments . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Platelet Protein Interactions: Map, Signaling Components, and Phosphorylation Groundstate

Marcus Dittrich, Ingvild Birschmann, Silke Mietner, Albert Sickmann, Ulrich Walter, and Thomas Dandekar
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2008 28: 1326-1331. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]