DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY-ASSOCIATED PROTEINS AND THEIR PRESENTATION IN A WWW-ACCESSIBLE 2-DIMENSIONAL GEL PROTEIN DATABASE

High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and computer-as sisted image analysis were used to screen 13 patients suffering from d ilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) versus 15 control patients for quantitativ e and qualitative differences in their myocardial protein expression. Right atrial tissue samples were obtained from end-stage failing expla nted hearts and control hearts. Fifty-two spots differed significantly in average intensity between the DCM and the control groups. Myosin l ight chain 2, ventricular (MLC2) and heat shock protein HSP 27 were id entified by protein microsequencing and gel map comparison with other databases. These proteins were found to be characteristic protein mark ers for DCM in the right atrium. In DCM patients, the spot intensity ( protein abundance) of MLC2 is increased to 336% and HSP 27 is decrease d to 59%, compared to the control group. The HEART-2DPAGE, a World Wid e Web-accessible 2-DE database, was used and extended for the presenta tion of these disease-associated proteins. Retrievable via Internet we present a list of disease-associated proteins, their altered level of expression in DCM, and their position on a right atrial protein patte rn. The accession number to protein sequence databases confers a conne ction to databases like SWISS-PROT to obtain a detailed functional and structural description of disease-associated proteins. New DCM-associ ated proteins are detected and their presentation in a 2-DE gel protei n database is described.