THE DOUBLE DEAMIDATED FORM OF BCL-XL IS A BIOMARKER OF PLATELET AGE

Abstract

Deamidation is usually viewed as a post-translational modification that sets an expiration date on proteins. Among apoptosis regulators of the Bcl-2 family, Bcl-xL shows a unique eligibility to be either singly or doubly deamidated. The inventors therefore analysed Bcl-xL deamidation state in platelets from mice models where platelets lifespan was manipulated. In parallel, the inventors compared human platelets obtained at steady state from healthy controls, to platelets newly synthesized after recovery from acute thrombocytopenia: they found that while expression levels of Asn52 monodeamidated Bcl-xL remains unchanged, Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated Bcl-xL is virtually absent in young platelets and accumulates in old platelets. Therefor the Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated Bcl-xL could be used as a reliable biomarker for determining the age of platelets.

Claims

1. A method of determining the age of a platelet comprising detecting in said platelet the presence of the Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated form of Bcl-xL and concluding that the platelet is a young platelet when the presence of said form is not detected or concluding that the platelet is an old platelet when the presence of said form is detected.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the detection is performed with a binding partner specific the Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated form of Bcl-xL.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the binding partner is an antibody.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the binding partner is labelled with a label selected from the group consisting of fluorescent molecules, radioisotopes, nucleotide chromophores, enzymes, substrates, chemiluminescent moieties, magnetic particles, and bioluminescent moieties.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the detection is performed by a flow cytometric method.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the flow cytometric method is an intracellular flow cytometry method.

7. A method of characterizing the cause of and treating thrombocytopenia in a subject in need thereof, comprising i) determining the age of a platelets in a blood sample from the subject by detecting the Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated form of Bcl-xL and ii) when the presence of the Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated form of Bcl-xL is detected, treating the subject for decreased platelet production by administering a transfusion to the subject; or treating the subject for destruction of platelets due to an immune condition by providing to the subject one or more treatments selected from: administering a corticoid, an anti-inflammatory drug and/or an immunoglobulin; an antibody depleting strategy; cell therapy; or gene therapy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the antibody depleting strategy is one or more of plasma exchange, plasmapheresis or immunoadsorption.

Description

FIGURES

[0024] FIG. 1: Platelets were isolated from the indicated mice. Total proteins were extracted and 25 μg were separated on tris-taurine-glycine minigels. Immunodetection of Bcl-x was performed, and revealed 3 bands: native Bcl-x.sub.L, N52 monodeamidated Bcl-x.sub.L (M) and doubly deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L (D) as described in Beaumatin F. et al. N52 monodeamidated Bcl-x.sub.L shows impaired oncogenic properties in vivo and in vitro. Oncotarget. 2016 Mar. 29;7(13):17129-43.

[0025] FIG. 2: In order to resolve the signal corresponding respectively to native, mono and doubly-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L in platelets isolated from WT, APS-treated and Bak−/− mice, a Gaussian fit was applied to the densitometric profiles obtained after Bcl-x immunodetection, and the respective areas were used to calculate the percentage of each specie. The percentages are reported in the table (WT mice, n=3; Bak−/− mice, n=4; APS-treated mice, n=6). An example of the fit is shown on platelets isolated from WT mice.

[0026] FIG. 3: Human platelets were isolated from healthy donors and from treated patients recovering from acute thrombocytopenia (either due to chemotherapy or Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP)). Total proteins were extracted and treated or not with λ-phosphatase. 30 μg were separated on 30 cm long Laemmli gels. Immunodetection of Bcl-x was performed, and revealed 3 bands: native Bcl-x.sub.L, N52 monodeamidated Bcl-x.sub.L (M) and doubly deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L (D).

EXAMPLE

[0027] Our aim was to explore whether Bcl-x.sub.L deamidation state could be a biological age marker for platelets. Circulating platelets have the particular trait to essentially rely on Bak to implement their termination by apoptosis (for review (Lebois and Josefsson, 2016)). Therefore, knocking out Bak is exquisitely suited to increase platelet lifespan, and circulating platelets isolated from Bak-deficient mice live longer than normal. FIG. 1 shows that such “old” platelets exhibit an increase in doubly-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L, confirming the correlation between deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L and platelet age. An accurate quantification of the amount of native, singly-deamidated, and doubly deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L in platelets isolated from WT, APS-treated or Bak−/− mice was performed: a Gaussian fit (FIG. 2) was applied on the densitometric profiles obtained from western blots, and we found that while expression levels of Asn52 monodeamidated Bcl-x.sub.L shows no statistical difference between all three conditions, Asn52Asn66 doubly-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L is virtually absent in young platelets (APS treatment) and significantly accumulates in old platelets (Bak−/− samples).

[0028] We collected human platelet samples from healthy donors and from patients recovering from acute thrombocytopenia after treatment. We found (FIG. 3) that Bcl-x.sub.L detection in platelets from patients recovering from acute thrombocytopenia only shows native and mono-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L, while in platelets from healthy donors, the native protein is consumed by the deamidation process with time, and mainly distributes into mono- and doubly-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L.

[0029] We conclude that the proof of concept achieved with genetically manipulated mice extends to physio-pathological cases in humans, and that doubly-deamidated Bcl-x.sub.L is a bona fide age marker.

REFERENCES

[0030] Throughout this application, various references describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.