Objectives:

Identify potential biomarkers involved in vascular calcification processes to improve DM2 diagnosis and treatment in its subclinical stages.

Methods:

This experimental study included 5 patients suffering diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) with peripheral arterial disease and critical ischemia. Protein extraction and identification of the proteome were carried out using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of calcified femoral artery sections. The identified proteins were analyzed through gene ontology and compared with other specific proteins of related vascular pathologies through the DisGeNET database. Cytoscape software analyzed the network of biological functions of the proteins selected for classification based on the disease in which they are involved.

Results:

530 proteins were identified in the analyzed samples with functions mainly of calcium binding and catalytic. 37 of them were common in other related vascular pathologies. The exploration of the biological networks of the 37 proteins identified, led to the identification of 2 potential specific markers of vascular calcification in atherosclerotic processes, such as 10-kDa thermal shock mitochondrial protein, and the flavoprotein subunit of succinate dehydrogenase.

Conclusions:

There is significant expression of proteins involved in processes of bone mineralization in calcified vascular tissue, suggesting the existence of common molecular mechanisms between bone regulation and vascular. The use of bioinformatics tools suggests the involvement of the mitochondrial 10 kDa heat shock protein and the subunit of the succinate dehydrogenase as potential biomarkers of vascular calcification in patients with DM2, although additional studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

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