Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Protein Tyrosine Nitration in Aging and Relevant Diseases

Protein tyrosine nitration (PTN) participates in pathophysiological processes, such as aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Although mass spectrometry of nitrated peptides has become a powerful tool for the identification of nitrated peptides, the low stoichiometry of PTN hampers the successful analysis. Accumulation of 3-nitrotyrosine has been found to occur during the aging process; this was identified through mass spectrometry. There has been increasing evidences that PTN-induced changes in protein structure and function play important roles in diverse pathogenesis of aging related diseases, carcinogenesis, and immunomodulatory diseases. In this review, we focus on the recent progress in understanding of PTN with regard to age-related diseases using mass spectrometry.