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Coassolo L, Wiggenhorn A, Svensson KJ. Understanding peptide hormones: from precursor proteins to bioactive molecules. Trends Biochem Sci 2025:S0968-0004(25)00063-5. [PMID: 40234176 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2025.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2024] [Revised: 03/19/2025] [Accepted: 03/20/2025] [Indexed: 04/17/2025]
Abstract
Peptide hormones are fundamental regulators of biological processes involved in homeostasis regulation and are often dysregulated in endocrine diseases. Despite their biological significance and established therapeutic potential, there is still a gap in our knowledge of their processing and post-translational modifications, as well as in the technologies for their discovery and detection. In this review, we cover insights into the peptidome landscape, including the proteolytic processing and post-translational modifications of peptide hormones. Understanding the full landscape of peptide hormones and their modifications could provide insights into leveraging proteolytic mechanisms to identify novel peptides with therapeutic potential. Therefore, we also discuss the need for future research aiming at better predicting, detecting, and characterizing new peptides with biological activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laetitia Coassolo
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Diabetes Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA
| | - Amanda Wiggenhorn
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Katrin J Svensson
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Diabetes Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA.
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Saidi M, Kamali S, Beaudry F. Neuropeptidomics: Comparison of parallel reaction monitoring and data‐independent acquisition for the analysis of neuropeptides using high‐resolution mass spectrometry. Biomed Chromatogr 2019; 33:e4523. [DOI: 10.1002/bmc.4523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2018] [Revised: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mouna Saidi
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine VétérinaireUniversité de Montréal Saint‐Hyacinthe Québec Canada
| | - Soufiane Kamali
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine VétérinaireUniversité de Montréal Saint‐Hyacinthe Québec Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine VétérinaireUniversité de Montréal Saint‐Hyacinthe Québec Canada
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Nkambeu B, Salem JB, Leonelli S, Marashi FA, Beaudry F. EGL-3 and EGL-21 are required to trigger nocifensive response of Caenorhabditis elegans to noxious heat. Neuropeptides 2019; 73:41-48. [PMID: 30454862 DOI: 10.1016/j.npep.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2018] [Revised: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a widely used model organism to examine nocifensive response to noxious stimuli, including heat avoidance. Recently, comprehensive analysis of the genome sequence revealed several pro-neuropeptide genes, encoding a series of bioactive neuropeptides. C. elegans neuropeptides are involved in the modulation of essentially all behaviors including locomotion, mechanosensation, thermosensation and chemosensation. The maturation of pro-neuropeptide to neuropeptide is performed by ortholog pro-protein convertases and carboxypeptidase E (e.g. EGL-3 and EGL-21). We hypothesized that C. elegans egl-3 or egl-21 mutants will have a significant decrease in mature neuropeptides and they will display an impaired heat avoidance behavior. Our data has shown that thermal avoidance behavior of egl-3 and egl-21 mutants was significantly hampered compared to WT(N2) C. elegans. Moreover, flp-18, flp-21 and npr-1 mutant C. elegans displayed a similar phenotype. EGL-3 pro-protein convertase and EGL-21 carboxypeptidase E are essential enzymes for the maturation of pro-neuropeptides to active neuropeptides in C. elegans. Quantitative mass spectrometry analyses with egl-3 and egl-21 mutant C. elegans homogenates demonstrated that proteolysis of ProFLP-18 and ProFLP-21 are severely impeded, leading to a lack of mature bioactive neuropeptides. Not only FLP-21 but also FLP-18 related mature neuropeptides, both are ligands of NPR-1 and are needed to trigger nocifensive response of C. elegans to noxious heat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Nkambeu
- Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Jennifer Ben Salem
- Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Sophie Leonelli
- Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Fatemeh Amin Marashi
- Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, QC J2S 2M2, Canada.
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Salem JB, Nkambeu B, Arvanitis DN, Beaudry F. Deciphering the Role of EGL-3 for Neuropeptides Processing in Caenorhabditis elegans Using High-Resolution Quadrupole–Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry. Neurochem Res 2018; 43:2121-2131. [DOI: 10.1007/s11064-018-2636-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2018] [Revised: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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Salem JB, Nkambeu B, Beaudry F. Characterization of neuropeptide K processing in rat spinal cord S9 fractions using high-resolution quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Biomed Chromatogr 2018; 32:e4204. [DOI: 10.1002/bmc.4204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Revised: 01/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Ben Salem
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec, Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire; Université de Montréal; Québec Canada
| | - Bruno Nkambeu
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec, Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire; Université de Montréal; Québec Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec, Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire; Université de Montréal; Québec Canada
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Saidi M, Beaudry F. Targeted high-resolution quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry analyses reveal a significant reduction of tachykinin and opioid neuropeptides level in PC1 and PC2 mutant mouse spinal cords. Neuropeptides 2017; 65:37-44. [PMID: 28476408 DOI: 10.1016/j.npep.2017.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2016] [Revised: 03/09/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Tachykinin and opioid neuropeptides play a fundamental role in pain transmission, modulation and inhibition. The proteolysis control of endogenous tachykinin and opioid neuropeptides has a significant impact on pain perception. The role of proprotein convertases (PCs) in the proteolysis of proneuropeptides was previously established but very few studies have shown the direct impact of PCs on the regulation of specific tachykinin and opioid peptides in the central nervous system. There is an increasing interest in the therapeutic targeting of PCs for the treatment of pain but it is imperative to assess the impact of PCs on the pronociceptive and the endogenous opioid systems. The objective of this study was to determine the relative concentration of targeted neuropeptides in the spinal cord of WT, PC1-/+ and PC2-/+ animals to establish the impact of a restricted PCs activity on the regulation of specific neuropeptides. The analysis of tachykinin and opioid neuropeptides were performed on a HPLC-MS/MS (High-Resolution Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer). The results revealed a significant decrease of Dyn A (p<0.01), Leu-Enk (p<0.001), Met-Enk (p<0.001), Tach58-71 (p<0.05), SP (p<0.01) and NKA (p<0.001) concentrations in both, PC1-/+ and PC2-/+ animals. Therefore, the modulation of PCs activity has an important impact on specific pronociceptive peptides (SP and NKA), but the results also shown that endogenous opioid system is hindered and consequently it will affect significantly the pain modulatory pathways. These observations may have insightful impact on future analgesic drug developments and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mouna Saidi
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de biomédecine vétérinaire, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de biomédecine vétérinaire, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.
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Saidi M, Kamali S, Beaudry F. Characterization of Substance P processing in mouse spinal cord S9 fractions using high-resolution Quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Neuropeptides 2016; 59:47-55. [PMID: 27344070 DOI: 10.1016/j.npep.2016.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Tachykinins are a family of pronociceptive neuropeptides with a specific role in pain and inflammation. Several mechanisms regulate endogenous tachykinins and Substance P (SP) levels, including the differential expression of protachykinin mRNA and the controlled secretion of tachykinins from neurons. Proteolysis is suspected to regulate extracellular SP concentrations but few studies were conducted on the metabolism of proneuropeptides and neuropeptides. Here, we provide evidence that proteolysis controls SP levels in the spinal cord leading to the formation of active C-terminal fragments. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, specific tachykinins fragments were characterized and quantified. The metabolic stability of β-Tachykinin58-71 and SP were very short resulting in half-life of 5.7 and 3.5min respectively. Several C-terminal fragments were identified, including SP3-11, SP5-11 and SP8-11, which conserve affinity for the Neurokinin 1 receptor. Interestingly, the metabolic stability of C-terminal fragments was significantly superior. Two specific Prolyl endopeptidase inhibitors were used and showed a significant reduction in the rate of formation of SP3-11 and SP5-11 providing strong evidence that Prolyl endopeptidase is involved into N-terminal processing of SP in the spinal cord.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mouna Saidi
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada
| | - Soufiane Kamali
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.
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Orduna AR, Beaudry F. Characterization of endoproteolytic processing of dynorphins by proprotein convertases using mouse spinal cord S9 fractions and mass spectrometry. Neuropeptides 2016; 57:85-94. [PMID: 26578270 DOI: 10.1016/j.npep.2015.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2015] [Revised: 10/09/2015] [Accepted: 10/11/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Dynorphins are important neuropeptides with a central role in nociception and pain alleviation. Many mechanisms regulate endogenous dynorphin concentrations, including proteolysis. Proprotein convertases (PCs) are widely expressed in the central nervous system and specifically cleave at C-terminal of either a pair of basic amino acids, or a single basic residue. The proteolysis control of endogenous big dynorphin (BDyn) and dynorphin A (Dyn A) levels has a profound impact on pain perception and the role of PCs remain unclear. The objective of this study was to decipher the role of PC1 and PC2 in the proteolysis control of BDyn and Dyn A levels using cellular fractions of spinal cords from wild-type (WT), PC1(-/+) and PC2(-/+) animals and mass spectrometry. Our results clearly demonstrate that both PC1 and PC2 are involved in the proteolysis regulation of BDyn and Dyn A with a more important role for PC1. C-terminal processing of BDyn generates specific peptide fragments dynorphin 1-19, dynorphin 1-13, dynorphin 1-11 and dynorphin 1-7, and C-terminal processing of Dyn A generates dynorphin 1-13, dynorphin 1-11 and dynorphin 1-7, all these peptide fragments are associated with PC1 or PC2 processing. Moreover, the proteolysis of BDyn leads to the formation of Dyn A and Leu-Enk, two important opioid peptides. The rate of formation of both is significantly reduced in cellular fractions of spinal cord mutant mice. As a consequence, even the partial inhibition of PC1 or PC2 may impair the endogenous opioid system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Ruiz Orduna
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada
| | - Francis Beaudry
- Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animal du Québec (GREPAQ), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Département de Biomédecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.
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