Introduction

The skin protects the human body from external insults and regulates water and temperature homeostasis. A highly developed extracellular matrix (ECM) supports the skin and instructs its cell functions. Reduced functionality of the ECM is often associated with skin diseases that cause physical impairment and also have implications on social interactions and quality of life of affected individuals.

Areas covered

With a focus on the skin ECM we discuss how mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic approaches first contributed to establishing skin protein inventories and then facilitated elucidation of molecular functions and disease mechanisms.

Expert opinion

MS-based proteomic approaches have significantly contributed to our understanding of skin pathophysiology, but also revealed the challenges in assessing the skin ECM. The numerous posttranslational modifications of ECM proteins, like glycosylation, crosslinking, oxidation, and proteolytic maturation in disease settings can be difficult to tackle and remain understudied. Increased ease of handling of LC-MS/MS systems and automated/streamlined data analysis pipelines together with the accompanying increased usage of LC-MS/MS approaches will ensure that in the coming years MS-based proteomic approaches will continue to play a vital part in skin disease research. They will facilitate the elucidation of molecular disease mechanisms and, ultimately, identification of new druggable targets.

中文翻译：

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皮肤蛋白质组学 - 健康和疾病中细胞外基质的分析。

简介

皮肤保护人体免受外部侵害并调节水和温度的稳态。高度发达的细胞外基质 (ECM) 支持皮肤并指导其细胞功能。ECM 的功能降低通常与导致身体损伤的皮肤病有关，也会对受影响个体的社会互动和生活质量产生影响。

覆盖区域

以皮肤 ECM 为重点，我们讨论了基于质谱 (MS) 的蛋白质组学方法如何首先有助于建立皮肤蛋白质库存，然后促进分子功能和疾病机制的阐明。

专家意见

基于 MS 的蛋白质组学方法极大地促进了我们对皮肤病理生理学的理解，但也揭示了评估皮肤 ECM 的挑战。ECM 蛋白的众多翻译后修饰，如疾病环境中的糖基化、交联、氧化和蛋白水解成熟，可能难以解决并且仍未得到充分研究。LC-MS/MS 系统和自动化/流线型数据分析管道的操作更加简便，同时伴随着 LC-MS/MS 方法使用的增加，将确保在未来几年基于 MS 的蛋白质组学方法将继续发挥重要作用在皮肤病研究中。它们将有助于阐明分子疾病机制，并最终确定新的可药物靶点。