Novel regulators identified by quantitative phosphoproteomics analysis
during ticagrelor-induced inhibition of platelet
Abstract
Purpose: To study the antiplatelet mechanisms of ticagrelor.
Experimental design: Platelets underwent activation with 20 μM ADP for
30 seconds followed by inhibition with 2 nM ticagrelor for another 30
seconds. Mass-spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic technique was applied
to obtain phosphorylation spectra in platelets. Results: We successfully
quantified 2285 phosphopeptides with high confidence in 1189
phosphoproteins. Compared with intact platelets, ADP-activated platelets
showed significant upregulation of PDE5ASer102 and downregulation of 178
phosphopeptides in 154 proteins. Gene Ontology analysis showed that
downregulated phosphoproteins were enriched in molecular functions and
pathways associated with RNA processing and surveillance. After
ticagrelor treatment, we identified 53 significantly regulated
phosphopeptides, including 17 upregulated and 36 downregulated, in 45
phosphoproteins. Eight phosphopeptides in STIM1, DENND4C, TNIK, BCL9L,
DBN1, DOCK10, FRMD4B, and PRKAR2B were significantly downregulated after
ADP stimulation and significantly upregulated after adding ticagrelor.
They were mainly implicated in regulation of Ca2+ flow, Wnt/β-catenin
signaling, and cytoskeleton remodeling, suggesting their potential role
as mediators in ticagrelor-related signaling pathways. Conclusions and
clinical relevance: By sequential activation and inhibition of platelets
using mutual competitive inhibitors, ADP and ticagrelor, we demonstrated
alternations in phosphorylation status of phosphoproteins, which could
help to interpret the mechanism of bleeding complications associated
with ticagrelor.