Protein disulfide isomerase plasma levels in healthy humans reveal proteomic signatures involved in contrasting endothelial phenotypes

Abstract

Redox-related plasma proteins are candidate reporters of protein signatures associated with endothelial struc-ture/function. Thiol-proteins from protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) family are unexplored in this context. Here,we investigate the occurrence and physiological significance of a circulating pool of PDI in healthy humans. Wevalidated an assay for detecting PDI in plasma of healthy individuals. Our results indicate high inter-individual(median = 330 pg/mL) but low intra-individual variability over time and repeated measurements. Remarkably,plasma PDI levels could discriminate between distinct plasma proteome signatures, with PDI-rich (> median)plasma differentially expressing proteins related to cell differentiation, protein processing, housekeeping func-tions and others, while PDI-poor plasma differentially displayed proteins associated with coagulation, in-flammatory responses and immunoactivation. Platelet function was similar among individuals with PDI-rich vs.PDI-poor plasma. Remarkably, such protein signatures closely correlated with endothelial function and phe-notype, since cultured endothelial cells incubated with PDI-poor or PDI-rich plasma recapitulated gene ex-pression and secretome patterns in line with their corresponding plasma signatures. Furthermore, such sig-natures translated into functional responses, with PDI-poor plasma promoting impairment of endothelialadhesion to fibronectin and a disturbed pattern of wound-associated migration and recovery area. Patients withcardiovascular events had lower PDI levels vs. healthy individuals. This is the first study describing PDI levels asreporters of specific plasma proteome signatures directly promoting contrasting endothelial phenotypes andfunctional responses.