Differences in the secretome of ascending aortic aneurysms from patients with bicuspid or tricuspid valves

Purpose-Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common congenital cardiac malformation, frequently associated with significant ascending aortic aneurysms. The pathogenesis of medial degeneration of the aorta in BAV disease remains not defined. A proteomic characterization of proteins which are actively synthesized and secreted (secretome) may represent a useful strategy in order to identify molecular pathways and novel biomarkers. We compared the secretomes of ascending aortic aneurysms collected from patients affected by BAV and patients with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV). Methods-Each samples of the ascending aortic aneurysm was incubated for 24 h in serum-free RPMI. Released proteins were digested with trypsin. Peptide mixtures were fractioned by nano-HPLC and analyzed by MALDI mass spectrometry. Proteins reported as differentially modulated resulted statistical validated across 6 replicates (T-test >95%; pvalue