Submitted June 14, 2006
Accepted August 2, 2006
Proteomic approaches to dissect platelet function:
one-half of the story
Dmitri V. Gnatenko*, Peter L. Perrotta, and Wadie F. Bahou
Department of Medicine, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY
Department of Pathology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Program in Genetics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY
* Corresponding author; email: dgnatenko{at}notes.cc.sunysb.edu.
Platelets play critical roles in diverse hemostatic and pathologic disorders, and are broadly implicated in various biological processes that include inflammation, wound healing and thrombosis. Recent progress in high-throughput mRNA and protein profiling techniques has advanced our understanding of platelet biological functions. Platelet proteomics has been adopted to decode the complex processes that underlie platelet function by (i) identifying novel platelet-expressed proteins; (ii) dissecting mechanisms of signal or metabolic pathways; and (iii) analyzing functional changes of the platelet proteome in normal and pathologic states. The integration of transcriptomics and proteomics, coupled with progress in bioinformatics, provide novel tools to dissect platelet biology. In this review, we focus on current advances in platelet proteomic studies, emphasizing the importance of parallel transcriptomic studies to optimally dissect platelet function. The applications of these " global profiling" approaches to investigate platelet genetic diseases and platelet-related disorders are also addressed.
