Bottom-Up Proteomic Analysis of the Secretome of Murine Islets of Langerhans

Islets of Langerhans are critical for the homeostasis of blood glucose levels. Islets secrete antagonistic protein hormones to regulate blood sugar. Dysregulation or damage of islets can cause diabetes, a metabolic disease characterized by persistent high blood glucose levels. As islets are the primarily responsible for blood glucose interrogating the fundamental alterations helps elucidate causation and helps provide a holistic understanding of the disease. In this work, I present a systematic study of the secretome, or secreted protein content, of murine islets of Langerhans. In particular, I focused on optimizing a bottom-up proteomic approach for analysis with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Additionally, the effects of elevated glucose levels on the secretome were studied to better understand the effects of diabetes.