Free radicals are formed when the body uses oxygen to make energy, to process foreign particles, like drugs, even when we encounter sunlight or radiation. Sometimes, when free radicals react with the body’s tissues, damage can occur, leading to heart disease, cancer and many conditions associated with aging.
In my lab, we study the damage that happens when free radicals interact with cells and try to observe how cells protect themselves or change themselves in the process. We have learned that sometimes the body’s reaction to the free radicals, rather than the free radicals themselves, can cause the most damage.
Some cells have the ability to adjust to free radical damage and function normally, or even benefit from the interaction. Other cells see little or no damage from free radicals, while some simply shut down or die.
In heart disease, certain white blood cells often react to free radicals by transforming themselves into “foam” cells. Those cells can lead to atherosclerosis, an inflammatory disease that clogs blood vessels and causes heart disease.
Our goal is to understand these changes so we can use them to our benefit. By identifying the triggers that can either increase good cell responses or decrease bad ones, we may learn ways to prevent many kinds of human disease.
Education
B.S. Chemistry, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, 1982
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 1986
Postdoc, Clinical Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1986-1988
Memberships
American Society for Mass Spectrometry
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine
Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 2008.
There are two primary activities in my laboratory: characterizing changes in protein expression in hearts and mitochondria from mice that are consuming a high-fat diet and characterizing the sites and chemical structure of oxidant-damaged proteins. A unique aspect of my experiments is the use of mass spectrometry to sequence and characterize proteins. These types of experiments are broadly referred to a proteomics.
In the first area of investigation, we use a proteomic approach – gel electrophoresis and quantitative mass spectrometry – to identify proteins that are differentially expressed in the heart and mitochondria. The general hypothesis being tested in this work is that the high fat diet produces a chronic oxidative stress that alters heart and mitochondrial function through changes in protein expression. Our goal is to discover previously unidentified or unstudied proteins that help drive the progression of the diet-induced heart failure.
In the second area of investigation, we use tandem mass spectrometry to characterize the site and structure of oxidative modifications to proteins. One theory of how oxidative stress affects cells is that key proteins become modified in a manner that alters their function. Our goal is to trace the specific structures that are characterized to new information about the oxidation reactions leading to those modifications and the link between those modifications and cell/tissue damage.
Recent Publications
Hallgren KW, Zhang D, Kinter M, Willard B, Berkner KL. Methylation of gamma-carboxylated Glu (Gla) allows detection by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and the identification of Gla residues in the gamma-glutamyl carboxylase. J Proteome Res 2012. [Abstract] EPub
Talbot JJ, Shillingford JM, Vasanth S, Doerr N, Mukherjee S, Kinter MT, Watnick T, Weimbs T. Polycystin-1 regulates STAT activity by a dual mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:7985-7990, 2011. [Abstract]
Jagannathan R, Kaveti S, Desnoyer RW, Willard B, Kinter M, Karnik SS. AT1 receptor induced alterations in histone H2A reveal novel insights into GPCR control of chromatin remodeling. PLoS ONE 5:e12552, 2010. [Abstract]
Selected Publications
Conway JP, Kinter M. Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of macrophages with an increased resistance to oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced cytotoxicity generated by chronic exposure to oxLDL. Mol Cell Proteomics 4:1522-1540, 2005. [Abstract]
Keightley JA, Shang L, Kinter M. Proteomic analysis of oxidative stress-resistant cells: a specific role for aldose reductase overexpression in cytoprotection. Mol Cell Proteomics 3:167-175, 2004. [Abstract]
Zheng L, Nukuna B, Brennan ML, Sun M, Goormastic M, Settle M, Schmitt D, Fu X, Thomson L, Fox PL, Ischiropoulos H, Smith JD, Kinter M, Hazen SL. Apolipoprotein A-I is a selective target for myeloperoxidase-catalyzed oxidation and functional impairment in subjects with cardiovascular disease. J Clin Invest 114:529-541, 2004. [Abstract]
Willard BB, Ruse CI, Keightley JA, Bond M, Kinter M. Site-specific quantitation of protein nitration using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 75:2370-2376, 2003. [Abstract]
Ruse CI, Willard B, Jin JP, Haas T, Kinter M, Bond M. Quantitative dynamics of site-specific protein phosphorylation determined using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 74:1658-1664, 2002. [Abstract]
Kinter M, Sherman NE. Protein sequencing and identification using tandem mass spectrometry. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 2000.
Free Radical Biology and Aging Research Program, MS 21
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Phone: (405) 271-7572
Fax: (405) 271-1437
E-mail: kinterm@omrf.org
Paul M. Rindler, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist
Clair Crewe
Graduate Student
Jolyn Fernandes
Graduate Student
Aaron McLain
Graduate Student
Melinda West
Senior Research Assistant
Caroline Kinter
Senior Research Technician
