DOMINIC M. DESIDERIO, Ph.D.

Professor

Department of Neurology

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine

Address

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

847 Monroe Avenue

Memphis, TN 38163

Tel: (901) 448-5488; Fax: (901) 448-7842;

Lab: 117 Johnson Building

Education

Ph.D. Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry

Research Interests

The goal of this research program is to clarify the molecular components involved in several human neuropeptidergic systems involved in stress, pain, and pituitary tumor formation. State-of-the-art mass spectrometric methods are used to analyze the neuropeptides involved in those processes. The proenkephalin A, proopiomelanocortin, and tachykinin neuropeptidergic systems are being studied in the pituitary, cerebrospinal fluid, and trigeminal systems.

Mass spectrometry permits the accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of neuropeptides by producing the molecular ion and the amino acid sequence-determining fragment ions of the peptide in an MS/MS experiment. Quantification is performed with stable isotope-incorporated synthetic peptide internal standards. The highest level of molecular specificity is obtained with MS at appropriate detection sensitivity levels. New metabolic processes such as hypometabolism of the POMC system have been found in human non-secreting and prolactin-secreting anterior pituitary tumors. Electrospray ionization allows the direct analysis of corresponding opioid-containing proteins.

Links

Neurology - Dominic M. Desiderio

Recent Publications

• Evans CO, Moreno CS, Zhan X, McCabe MT, Vertino PM, Desiderio DM, Oyesiku NM. Molecular pathogenesis of human prolactinomas identified by gene expression profiling, RT-qPCR, and proteomic analyses. Pituitary. 2008;11(3):231-45. PMID: 18183490
• Giorgianni F, Zhao Y, Desiderio DM, Beranova-Giorgianni S. Toward a global characterization of the phosphoproteome in prostate cancer cells: identification of phosphoproteins in the LNCaP cell line. Electrophoresis. 2007 Jun;28(12):2027-34. PMID: 17487921
• Sheth P, Seth A, Atkinson KJ, Gheyi T, Kale G, Giorgianni F, Desiderio DM, Li C, Naren A, Rao R. Acetaldehyde dissociates the PTP1B-E-cadherin-beta-catenin complex in Caco-2 cell monolayers by a phosphorylation-dependent mechanism. Biochem J. 2007 Mar 1;402(2):291-300. PMID: 17087658
• Beranova-Giorgianni S, Zhao Y, Desiderio DM, Giorgianni F. Phosphoproteomic analysis of the human pituitary. Pituitary. 2006;9(2):109-20. PMID: 16807684
• Zhan X, Desiderio DM. Nitroproteins from a human pituitary adenoma tissue discovered with a nitrotyrosine affinity column and tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Biochem. 2006 Jul 15;354(2):279-89. Epub 2006 Jun 5. PMID: 16777052
• Moreno CS, Evans CO, Zhan X, Okor M, Desiderio DM, Oyesiku NM. Novel molecular signaling and classification of human clinically nonfunctional pituitary adenomas identified by gene expression profiling and proteomic analyses. Cancer Res. 2005 Nov 15;65(22):10214-22. PMID: 16288009

view complete list of references (pubmed link)