{"doi":"10.1101/2021.12.18.473301","title":"Integrated Proteomic and Metabolomic Analyses of the Mitochondrial Neurodegenerative Disease MELAS","abstract":"ABSTRACT MELAS (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, stroke-like episodes) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by pathogenic mitochondrial DNA variants. The pathogenic mechanism of MELAS remains enigmatic due to the exceptional clinical heterogeneity and the obscure genotype-phenotype correlation among MELAS patients. To gain insights into the pathogenic signature of MELAS, we designed a comprehensive strategy integrating proteomics and metabolomics in patient-derived dermal fibroblasts harboring the ultra-rare MELAS pathogenic variant m.14453G>A, specifically affecting the mitochondrial respiratory Complex I. Global proteomics was achieved by data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and verified by data-independent acquisition (DIA) using both Spectronaut and the recently launched MaxDIA platforms. Comprehensive metabolite coverage was achieved for both polar and nonpolar metabolites in both reverse phase and HILIC LC-MS/MS analyses. Our proof-of-principle MELAS study with multi-omics integration revealed OXPHOS dysregulation with a predominant deficiency of Complex I subunits, as well as alterations in key bioenergetic pathways, glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and fatty acid β-oxidation. The most clinically relevant discovery is the downregulation of the arginine biosynthesis pathway, likely due to blocked argininosuccinate synthase, which is congruent with the MELAS cardinal symptom of stroke-like episodes and its current treatment by arginine infusion. In conclusion, we demonstrated an integrated proteomic and metabolomic strategy for patient-derived fibroblasts, which has great clinical potential to discover therapeutic targets and design personalized interventions after validation with a larger patient cohort in the future. Abstract Figure Graphic Abstract: Integrated proteomics and metabolomics of patient fibroblasts revealed dysregulations in arginine biosynthesis, OXPHOS complexes, and bioenergetic pathways in MELAS, a mitochondrial neurodegenerative disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutations.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":228156,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9428,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":748826,"name":"Martine Uittenbogaard","orcid":"0000-0003-0371-3041","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":833388,"name":"Ryan Navarro","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":833389,"name":"Mustafa Ahmed","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":301135,"name":"Andrea Gropman","orcid":"0000-0002-2106-6776","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":748827,"name":"Anne Chiaramello","orcid":"0000-0001-8424-0826","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":472825,"name":"Ling Hao","orcid":"0000-0002-0106-5266","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":748825,"name":"Haorong Li","orcid":"0000-0002-0503-4870","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":49,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:54:50.414605Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}