AUTHOR=Beutgen Vanessa M. , Graumann Johannes TITLE=Advances in aqueous humor proteomics for biomarker discovery and disease mechanisms exploration: a spotlight on primary open angle glaucoma JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience VOLUME=17 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2024.1397461 DOI=10.3389/fnmol.2024.1397461 ISSN=1662-5099 ABSTRACT=

Altered protein levels in the aqueous humor (AH) may be a valuable source of novel biomarkers in neurodegenerative retinal disease. The proximity of this body fluid to the disease focus, and its corresponding enrichment for tissue specific proteins, renders it an excellent matrix to study underlying molecular mechanisms. Novel proteomic methods accordingly hold large potential for insight into pathologies based on the composition of the AH proteome, including primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Recent mass spectrometry-based studies use novel approaches to tackle the challenges arising from the combination of low available sample volume and protein concentration, thereby increasing proteome coverage. But despite significant improvements in mass spectrometry (MS), a different class of proteomic technologies is poised to majorly impact the analysis of ocular biofluids. Affinity proteomic workflows, having become available commercially recently, have started to complement data obtained by MS and likely will grow into a crucial tool for ophthalmological biomarker research. This review highlights corresponding approaches in proteome analysis of aqueous humor and discusses recent findings on alterations of the AH proteome in POAG.