Patent Application: US-201013509397-A

Abstract:
a method of screening for compounds that enhance or depress contractile function , based on measuring the formation of heterodimers of contractile fibers , for example through disulfide bond formation . diagnostic and prognostic methods and kits are also provided .

Description:
in accordance with the invention , methods , diagnostics and kits are disclosed herein that relate to alterations in the properties of contractile cells and tissues , such as , for example , heart , skeletal and smooth muscle , motile blood cells such as neutrophils , and cancer cells . in one aspect , the invention includes a method for screening for an agent that increases contractility in a contractile cell comprising the steps of a ) contacting a test agent with a composition comprising contractile proteins from said cell ; and b ) measuring the formation of at least one cross link between said contractile proteins ; wherein the formation of at least one cross link between said proteins is indicative of an potential agent for increasing contractility of said cell . in one embodiment , measurement of a cross link is accomplished by assaying for the presence of , or an increase in , heterodimers formed by the contractile proteins . the contractile cell can be , for example , a muscle cell , e . g ., a smooth muscle cell , a skeletal muscle cell or a cardiac muscle cell . the contractile cell may also be a cell having motility , such as a blood cell ( a neutrophil or lymphocyte ), or a cancer cell , in particular a metastatic cancer cell . the contractile proteins may be , e . g ., tm and actin , myosin heavy and myosin light chains alone or in combination . the cross link can be , for example , a disulfide bond , or any other covalent bond that is induced by the test agent . in specific embodiments , the cross link is formed between cysteine residue 190 of tm and cys 257 of actin , or between cys 37 of myosin heavy chain and cys 81 of myosin light chain 1 . cross - linkage can be measured by any suitable method known in the art , for example , by molecular weight assay , antibody assay , molecular sieving assay , mass spectrometry as well as using a switch assay which the non - modified cys are blocked and the disulfide bond is reduced . the cys that were involved in the disulfide bond are then chemically modified . in this case the modification is detected by antibody raised against the chemical moiety or directly by mass spectrometry . in the latter case , quantitation can be carried out if the moiety has different molecular weights . then when different samples are labeled with the moiety each with a different molecular weight , the ratio can be determined between samples . alternatively , a recombinant or synthetic protein or peptide containing the modified cys is produced which has a different mass than the endogenous form . spiking in a known amount of the labeled form allows quantification with respect to the endogenous cys . also provided is a method for screening for an agent that reduces contractility in a contractile cell comprising the steps of a ) contacting a test agent with a composition comprising contractile proteins from said cell in homo or heterodimer form ; and b ) measuring the disruption of at least one cross link between said contractile proteins ; wherein the disruption of at least one cross link between said proteins is indicative of a potential agent for decreasing contractility of said cell . the contractile cell can be , for example a muscle cell , e . g ., a smooth muscle cell , a skeletal muscle cell or a cardiac muscle cell . the contractile cell may also be a cell having motility , such as a blood cell ( a neutrophil or lymphocyte ), fibroblast , stem cell , endothelial or epithelial or a cancer cell , in particular a metastatic cancer cell or any cells that can be motile and contains actin , tm and or myosin . the contractile proteins may be , e . g ., tm and actin , myosin heavy and myosin light chains , actinin , myosin binding protein c and troponin c . the cross link can be , for example , a disulfide bond , or any other covalent bond that is induced by the test agent . in specific embodiments , the cross link is formed between cysteine residue 190 of tm and cys 257 of actin , or between cys 37 of myosin heavy chain and cys 81 of myosin light chain 1 . cross - linkage can be measured by any suitable method known in the art , for example , by molecular weight assay , antibody assay , molecular sieving assay , mass spectrometry . as well as using a switch assay which the non - modified cys are blocked and the disulfide bond is reduced . the cys that were involved in the disulfide bond are then chemically modified . in this case the modification is detected by antibody raised against the chemical moiety or directly by mass spectrometry . in the latter case , quantitation can be carried out if the moiety has different molecular weights . then when different samples are labeled with the moiety each with a different molecular weight , the ratio can be determined between samples . alternatively , a recombinant or synthetic protein or peptide containing the modified cys is produced which has a different mass than the endogenous form . spiking in a known amount of the labeled form allows quantification with respect to the endogenous cys . agents or compounds identified by the methods above can be screened further for use in the treatment , diagnosis , and prognosis of a variety of disorders and diseases involving contractile cells , as detailed elsewhere herein . also provided is a diagnostic method comprising the step of detecting and / or measuring the level of a heterodimer comprised of contractile proteins in a biological sample wherein the presence and / or level of said heterodimer is correlated with a diagnosis , prognosis or treatment outcome . diseases , disorders and dysfunctions to be diagnosed , treated , monitored or prognosticated include cardiac disorders such as heart failure and myocardial stunning , diseases / disorders / dysfunctions of skeletal muscle such as skeletal muscle cramps , hypercontraction , diseases / disorders / dysfunctions of smooth muscles such as irritable bowl and gastric mobility , asthma , vascular spasm , uterine contraction involved in premature delivery or delivery itself , menstrual cramps , cancer , in particular metastatic cancer the biological sample can be a blood sample ( e . g . whole blood , serum or plasma ) or other tissue sample , such as a sample obtained by tissue biopsy ( e . g . a cardiac , skeletal or smooth muscle biopsy ) or during surgery , or a bodily fluid such as urine , saliva , sweat , etc . also provided are kits containing compositions and reagents for practicing the invention . in one embodiment , the kit contains reagents , etc ., for carrying out a gel based method . one such kit , for detecting actin - tm dimer by wb may comprise , for example , one or more of the following : bis - tris gel ( or any denaturing gel type including sds page ), mops running buffer nitrocellulose membrane detector : primary antibodies , e . g ., antibody to tropomyosin ( e . g . ch1 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ), antibody to actin ( e . g . ac - 40 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ) ms , mrm , aptimeter , etc . another such kit , for detecting myosin heavy chain ( mhc )- myosin light chain ( mlc1 ) dimers , may comprise one or more of the following : enrichment : bis - tris gel ( or any denaturing gel type including sdspage ), mes running buffer nitrocellulose membrane detectors : primary antibodies , e . g ., myosin light chain 1 ( e . g . mlm527 , abcam , cambridge , mass ., usa ), myosin heavy chain α / β ( e . g . 3 - 48 , abcam , cambridge , mass ., usa ). in another embodiment , the kit contains reagents , etc ., for detecting heterodimers by elisa assay . one such kit , for indirect detection of actin and tm dimers , may comprise , for example , one of more of the following : enrichment : spin column with 50 kda mw cut off or any size exclusion column system that differentiates between 32 and 70 kda . detector : elisa plate coated with tropomyosin ( e . g . ch1 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ) detection antibody : actin ( e . g . ac - 40 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ) conjugated with a fluorophore . wash buffer controls : negative control : reducing buffer ( dtt solution ) positive control : synthetic peptide containing both antibody epitopes another such kit , for direct detecting actin and tm dimer or myosin heavy chain ( mhc )- myosin light chain ) mlc1 dimers , may comprise , for example , one or more reagents needed to carry out the following protocol : one kit would contain at least an enrichment method base on mw ( size exclusion filter ) followed by selection of high mw fraction which is analyzed by an elisa against actin - tm . antibodies are produced against the synthetic peptides ( 8 - 20 amino acid residues ) around the cys in the various proteins . oxidation of the actin and tm or myosin heavy chain and light chain is allowed . the unoxidized and the oxidize antigen are used directly or conjugated to a carrier prior to production of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies . an alternative is generation of peptoides or aptimers are used instead of antibodies . selection of antibodies occurs using the oxidized and unoxidized peptides in a sequential purification protocol . alternative : cys can be replaced by another amino acid residue ( e . g . ala ) to ensure no oxidation . as well , cys can be replaced in on protein with a lys and asp in the other protein involved in the dimer . the crosslink between lys and asp can be induced using transglutaminase or chemical based methods . selection of antibodies occurs using the oxidized and unoxidized peptides in a sequential purification protocol . an alternative is peptoides or aptimers are generated and used instead of antibodies . solublization of tissue or isolated myofilament or individual proteins ( eg . actin or tm ). capture of either actin or tm or any protein if the myofilament is in the native form . detection using the anti - disulfide actin - tm antibody . control is the non disulfide bond antibody . proteins could be detected by ms , mrm , aptimeter , etc . an alternative is to capture using the anti - disulfide actin - tm antibody with detection using either anti - nondisulfide actin or tm antibodies ( or any actin and tm ab ). solublization of tissue or isolated myofilament or individual proteins ( e . g . intact myosin ) capture of myosin and detection using the anti - disulfide mhc - mlc1 antibody . control is the non disulfide bond mhc - mlc1 antibody . proteins could be detected by ms , mrm , aptimeter , etc . alternative is to capture using the anti - disulfide mhc - mlc1 antibody with detection using either anti - nondisulfide mhc - mlc1 antibodies ( or any mhc or mlc1 ab . in another embodiment , the kit comprises reagents , etc . for use in detection of heterodimers directly by mass spectroscopy . one such kit would contain one or more reagents , etc . for carrying out digestion of tissue , cell , any body fluid ( e . g . serum ), isolated myofilament or isolated individual proteins ( e . g . actin or tm or intact myosin or mhc or mcl1 ). the digestion can be carried out using chemical or enzymatic methods ( e . g . a mixture of trypsin and chymotrypsin , see appendix . samples can be fractionated ( e . g . size exclusion , etc ), if needed . the digests are analyzed by mass spectrometry using maldi tof , malid tof tof , maldi tof tof tof , and a number of different electrosparay ionization ms instruments ( esi instrumentation ) including ltq orbitrap or triple quadrupole mass spectrometers , ms base method can be direct observation or targeted using multiple reaction monitoring ( mrm or srm ) methods . example of mrm peptides and their transitions are in the appendix . quantification can be achieved by addition of a known amount of a labeled peptide ( e . g . n15 ), peptide comprising random sequence , labeled protein ( e . g . n15 ) etc . the minimum this kit would require is labeled peptide suitable for mass spectrometry ). most often there would be an enrichment step based on mw or immuno - precipitation of the modified proteins . in another embodiment , the kit comprises reagents , etc . for use in detection of heterodimers directly by biotin switch capture . one such kit contains reagents , etc . for blocking all free cys residues in a tissue , cell , any body fluid ( e . g . serum ), isolated myofilament or isolated individual proteins ( e . g . actin or tm or intact myosin or mhc or mcl1 ). blocking buffer can consist of hepes , nem and sds or other detergents ). the cys residues involved in disulfide bonds are reduced with dtt and labeled . the labeling buffer can consist of hepes , biotin - hpdp and sds or other detergents . other cys labeling reagents can be used such as tandem mass tags that react to cys . analysis and detection of the modified form can be done directly at the protein or peptide level . otherwise , the protein or peptide can be enriched and isolated using streptavidin agarose or antibody to the protein . the modified protein can be assessed directly . otherwise , the enriched sample can be digested using chemical or an enzyme ( s ) and the peptides isolated using streptavidin agarose or other affinity purification methods prior to ms analysis . ms analysis can be done directly on the peptide mixture . an alternative is to target the modified peptide directly using mrm . the minimum kit would require labeling moiety and antibody against the labeling moiety or a synthetic labeled peptide with the labeling moiety attached . most often there would be an enrichment step based on mw or immunopreciptication of the modified proteins . in another embodiment , the kit comprises one or more components or reagents for an alternative immune assay against modified cys proteins : antibody production : the cys containing peptide ( are as described above consisting of the amino acid residues around the cys involved in the disulfide bonds of actin , tm , mhc and mlc1 ( as described above )) are reacted with a cys reactive group ( e . g . biotin - hpdp . these modified peptides ( with or without a carrier group ) are used as the immunogen . either polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies ( an alternative is peptoides or aptimers ) are generated . the resulting antibodies ( peptiodes or aptimers ) are purified against the cys modified peptides and or cys modified proteins ( same modification as the immunogen ). the antibodies may also need to be cleared against the unmodified forms of either the peptide or the proteins . sample preparation : the sample containing the disulfide actin - tm and or mhc - mlc1 have all free cys residues blocked using a blocking group , like nem which is not the same modification that is used to create the antibody . the sample containing the actin - tm and or mhc - mlc1 disulfide bonds are then reduced with dtt and modified using the same cys reactive reagent used to generate the antibody ( e . g . biotin - hpdp ). this can be done in modified tissue , cells , body fluid , or isolated myofilament . one or more of the anti - peptide antibodies generated can be used directly . elisa : the anti - cys modified peptide antibodies ( one or more ) can be used directly in a manner similar to immunohistochemistry , dot blot or gel electrophoresis on the cys modified tissue , body fluid , cells or isolated myofilaments . alternatively , a sandwich elisa can be made in which the modified actin , tm , mhc or mlc1 is captured using antibody against the protein and then probed for the modification using the anti - modified peptide antibody . the minimum kit would contain the antibody against the modified protein or peptide containing the disulfide ( or asp - lys ) bond . most often there would be an enrichment step based on mw or immunopreciptication of the modified proteins . contractile cell : a cell comprising contractile fibers , such as a smooth , skeletal or cardiac muscle cell , a motile blood cell or one having contractile properties such as a neutrophil , lymphocyte , or platelet contractility : a shortening of contractile fibers . as used herein , an increase in contractility is a measurable shortening of e . g . muscle fibers , or an increase in force generated by the fibers . test agent : a compound or composition to be screened using the methods disclosed herein . cross link : a covalent bond between two contractile proteins , for example a disulfide bond . isolated : separated from components with which it is found naturally , but not necessarily purified to a particular level . force and [ ca 2 + ] i measurements in cardiac trabeculae . rat hearts were exposed via midsternotomy after the animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital ( 100 mg / kg ), and were then rapidly excised and aorta cannulated . the hearts were perfused retrogradely (˜ 15 ml / min ) with high k + krebs - henseleit ( h - k ) solution equilibrated with 95 % o 2 and 5 % co 2 . trabeculae were quickly dissected from the right ventricles of the hearts and mounted between a force transducer and a motor arm . the muscles were superfused with k - h solution at a rate of ˜ 10 ml / min and stimulated at 0 . 5 hz . force was measured using a force transducer system ( si , germany ) and expressed in mn / mm 2 . sarcomere length was measured by laser diffraction [ 6 ]. fura - 2 potassium salt was microinjected iontophoretically into one cell and allowed to spread throughout the whole muscle ( via gap junctions ). the epifluorescence of fura - 2 was measured by exciting at 380 and 340 nm . the fluorescent light was collected at 510 nm by a photomultiplier tube ( r1527 , hamamatsu ). [ ca 2 + ] i was given by ( after subtraction of the autofluorescence ): [ ca 2 + ] i = k ′ d ( r - rmin )/( rmax - r ), where r is the observed ratio of fluorescence ( 340 / 380 ), k ′ d is the apparent dissociation constant , rmax is the ratio of 340 nm / 380 nm at saturating [ ca 2 + ], and rmin is the ratio of 340 nm / 380 nm at zero [ ca 2 + ]. the values of k ′ d , rmax , and rmin were determined by in vivo calibrations [ 6 ]. tetanization of the trabecula was achieved by addition of ryanodine ( 1 . 0 μmol / l ) and by increasing the stimulus rate to 10 hz briefly (˜ 3 sec ) to obtain steady - state force -[ ca 2 + ] relations . different levels of tetanized force will be obtained by increasing [ ca 2 + ] in the perfusate ( up to 20 - 25 mmol / l ). the data will be fitted with the hill equation : f = fmax [ ca 2 + ] in /( k1 / 2n +[ ca 2 + ] in ), where fmax is the maximal force . k1 / 2 is [ ca 2 + ] i at half fmax , and n is the hill coefficient . rat myofibrillar preparations , as described in [ 7 ], were obtained from frozen ventricles ( pel freez biologicals ) minced in 20 volumes / tissue weight of 4 ° c . relax buffer ( srb ( 75 mm kcl , 10 mm imidazole ph 7 . 2 , 2 mm mgcl 2 ) plus 4 mm phosphocreatine , 1 mm atp , 50 mm bdm , 1 mm benzamidine - hcl , 0 . 1 mm pmsf , 1 μg / ml leupeptin , 1 μg / ml pepstatin , 1 % ( v / v ) trixon x - 100 ) and adjusted to 10 mm edta . minced preparations were centrifuged for 8 min at 3000xg and the supernant was decanted . resulting pellets were resuspended in 10 volumes of srb plus 1 % triton x - 100 and subjected to 6 strokes in a duall tissue homogenizer and centrifuged as above . pellets were gently resuspended and centrifuged as above twice more in srb including 1 % ( v / v ) triton x - 100 , twice in srb lacking triton x - 100 and once in k - 60 buffer ( 60 mm kcl , 20 mm mops , 2 mm mgcl 2 ph 7 ) before being resuspended in 5 volumes of k - 60 . detection of hno modifications by modified biotin switch . hno modified thiols were detected using a modification to the standard biotin switch protocol [ 8 ]. in brief , 100 μg of rat myofibrils / treatment were diluted to 0 . 5 μg / μl in hen ( 250 mm hepes ph 7 . 7 , 1 mm edta and 0 . 1 mm neocuproine ) including 0 . 1 % ( w / v ) sds and exposed to a treatment for 10 min at 37 ° c . which was subsequently removed by acetone precipitation . remaining free thiols were blocked by addition of 300 μl of hen including 2 . 5 % ( w / v ) sds and 20 mm n - ethylmaleimide ( nem ), incubated for 20 min at 50 ° c . excess nem was removed by acetone precipitation . hno and / or no modified thiols were reduced using 5 mm dtt or 1 mm ascorbate in 150 μl of hen including 1 % ( w / v ) sds and biotinylated with 0 . 8 mm biotin - hpdp ( pierce ) for one hour at room temperature . excess biotin - hpdp was removed by acetone precipitation ( 2 volumes ) and resultant pellets were carefully washed with an additional volume of acetone . biotinylated proteins were resuspended in 1 ml of hen including 0 . 1 % ( w / v ) sds and captured by incubation with 15 μl of washed , packed ultralink immobilized streptavidin ( pierce ) for one hour at room temperature . beads were washed four times in 50 bead volumes of hen ( twice including 0 . 1 % ( w / v ) sds , twice including 600 mm nacl ) and twice with eb ( 20 mm hepes ph 7 . 7 , 100 mm nacl , 1 mm edta ). captured proteins were eluted with 40 μl of eb containing 100 mm dtt , mixed with 15 μl of 4 × lds sample buffer , boiled , separated by sds page and silver stained [ 9 ]. for ms studies , biotinylated proteins were digested overnight with trypsin ( promega ) prior to capture and washed ten additional times with 5 mm ammonium bicarbonate / 20 % acetonitrile before being eluted in 100 μl of wash buffer including 100 mm dtt as described [ 10 ]. captured peptides were identified using a ltq linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometer ( thermofinnigan , waltham mass . usa ) with data searched against the rat ipi primary sequence database using the sorcerer searching platform ( sagen ). gel shift assay . 10 μg of rat myofibrils / treatment were diluted to 0 . 5 μg / μl in hen including 0 . 1 % ( w / v ) sds and exposed to a treatment for 20 min at 37 ° c . samples were diluted to 0 . 1 ug / ul in 1 × lsd sample buffer , treated with 0 , 5 or 100 mm dtt and separated by sds page . proteins were silver stained or transferred to nitrocellulose and immunoblotted with primary antibodies for tropomyosin sarcomeric ( ch1 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ), actin ( ac - 40 , sigma - aldrich co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ), myosin light chain 1 ( mlm527 , abcam , cambridge , mass ., usa ) or myosin heavy chain ( 3 - 48 , abcam , cambridge , mass ., usa ). for some silver stained gel bands of interest in - gel digestion was done following the protocol outlined in shevchenko et al . [ 9 ]. gel slices of interest were excised from the gels cut into 1 mm 3 pieces . silver stained gel pieces were destained in 1 : 1 ( v / v ) 30 mm potassium ferricyanide and 100 mm sodium thiosulfate and wash three times with ddh2o . gel pieces were dehydrated in 100 % acetonitrile and reswelled in 10 mm dtt and incubated at 55 ° c . for 1 hour . after the dtt solution was removed , a solution of 55 mm iodoacetimide was added and gel slices were incubated at room temperature protected from light . gel slices were then washed 3 times with 50 % ( v / v ) acn , 25 mm ( nh 4 ) hco 3 and then fully dehydrated in 100 % acn and dried in a speed vac . gel pieces were reswelled in a 12 . 5 ng / μl trypsin ( promega , madison wis . usa ) solution containing 25 mm ( nh 4 ) hco 3 and incubated at 37 ° c . for & gt ; 16 hours . digested peptides were extracted by addition of 5 % ( v / v ) formic acid and incubation for 15 min followed by addition of an equal volume of 100 % acn and 15 min incubation , this step was repeated and the extracts were combined . proteins were identified using an orbitrap ltq tandem mass spectrometer ( thermofinnigan , waltham mass . usa ). to isolate and characterize these effects two similar but distinct hno donors were used . angeli &# 39 ; s salt ( as ) confers an increase in maximum force of contraction when applied to isolated trebecula or skinned muscle preparations without altering ca 50 or the hill coefficient . 1 - nitrosocyclohexylacetate ( nca ) is a new and mechanistically unique hno donor that has been recently synthesized [ 11 ]. nca releases hno with minimal (& lt ; 0 . 5 %) no and no nitrite at all , a known side product of as decomposition and hno release . when administered to isolated cardiac muscle , nca increases force development in a dose dependent manner , from 20 ˜ 100 μmol / l , with no changes in diastolic force at 0 . 5 mmol / l [ ca 2 + ] o ( fig1 upper ). nca ( 100 μmol / l ) increased force up to 32 . 3 ± 4 . 8 mmhg / mm 2 ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 vs 8 . 8 mmhg / mm 2 in control muscles ). ca 2 + transient did not rise significantly ( 0 . 39 ± 0 . 08 vs . 0 . 27 ± 0 . 06 μmol / l control , p = 0 . 23 ) and diastolic ca 2 + increased only at high doses . also , in the presence of nca , systolic force remained significantly higher at any given external ca 2 + . on the other hand , the amplitude of intracellular ca 2 + transients was not different from control ( fig1 middle ). force - frequency relationship was also enhanced by nca without rising [ ca 2 + ] i ( fig1 lower ). the above results show that force increased to a greater extent relative to ca 2 + transients , suggesting increased myofilament ca 2 + responsiveness by nca . to further test this hypothesis , steady - state force -[ ca 2 + ] i relations were obtained by tetanizing the muscles in the presence of ryanodine . the steady - state force -[ ca 2 + ] i relations in control muscles and muscles exposed to nca ( 20 μmol / l ) are presented in fig2 a . both maximal ca 2 + - activated force ( fmax ) and [ ca 2 + ] i required for 50 % of activation ( ca 50 ) increased significantly in muscles exposed to nca ( fmax , 123 ± 18 vs . 95 ± 5 mn / mm 2 , p & lt ; 0 . 05 ; ca 50 , 0 . 42 ± 0 . 01 vs . 0 . 57 ± 0 . 03 mmol / l , p & lt ; 0 . 004 ; hill , 4 . 92 ± 0 . 84 vs . 3 . 94 ± 0 . 18 , p = n . s .) furthermore , the increased ca 2 + responsiveness persisted after skinning , indicating that nca acts directly on the myofilaments ( fmax , 9411 . 6 vs . 8214 . 0 mn / mm 2 , p = 0 . 05 ; pca 50 , 0 . 30 ± 0 . 13 vs . 1 . 35 ± 0 . 36 μmol / l , p & lt ; 0 . 001 ; hill , 2 . 39 ± 1 . 02 vs . 3 . 21 ± 1 . 18 , p = n . s ) ( fig2 b ). also , in skinned muscles , increases in myofilament ca 2 + sensitivity caused by hno were completely abolished by dtt ( fig2 c ), thus confirming that hno action is sensitive to reducing equivalents ( 3 ). although hno is the primary hydrolysis product of nca (& gt ; 50 %), other potential products include acetic acid / sodium acetate and cyclohexanone . we have tested these compounds and they did not produce any appreciable effects in cardiac muscles ( data not shown ). for comparison , the steady state activation data for as treated skinned muscle preparations is shown in fig2 d . furthermore , 1 - nitrosocyclohexyl pivalate , a compound of similar chemical structure but that does not release hno had no effects ( data not shown ). taken together , these data suggest the positive inotropic effect of nca is specific to hno . to investigate the modifications that underlie the difference seen in the functional effect of these two compounds we performed an analysis on the myofilament proteins , using a modified biotin - switch method , followed by mass spectrometry for identification ( fig3 ). following treatment with hno or control compounds , unmodified cysteines are blocked with nem before treatment with a reducing agent and labeling the exposed cysteines with a biotin group ( fig3 a ). in this case , 5 mm dtt was used as the reducing agent because it was shown in the physiological studies to reverse the effect of the treatment . streptavidin capture of intact proteins revealed that hno modified proteins could be specifically captured and that hno modifications were resistant to reduction with ascorbate , commonly used in biotin switch assays for s — no groups ( fig3 b ). to determine the individual cysteines modified by hno treatment the biotin switch assay was preformed on isolated cardiac myofibrils were treated with nca ( 25 μm ) or as ( 500 μm ) and compared to their decomposed / inactive equivalents . tryptic or chymotryptic peptides containing the modified cysteine residues were captured and identified by lc / ms / ms . the experiments above involving hno effects on cardiac myofilament proteins found that treatment with as produced an increase in fmax but had no effect on ca 50 ( 3 ). to parse the role of candidate sites of modification between these two effects a comparative proteomics experiment was designed where modifications specific to nca treatment would be considered candidates for the ca 2 + effect while sites identified in common between as and nca could be candidates for the force effect ( fig3 c ). a total of 8 proteins containing 12 potential sites of hno modification were identified between the two treatments ( table 1 ). of those , 3 proteins ( tropomyosin cys190 , actin cys257 and myosin heavy chain cys947 and 1750 ) were found to be specifically modified by nca . 7 sites were found to be in common between the two treatments . to map and evaluate the effects of hno modification on individual cys , a comparison was done between the changes induced by nca to those of another hno donor , angeli &# 39 ; s salt ( as ). we have previously reported that as increased f max but did not affect ca 2 + sensitivity ( ca 50 ) in cardiac muscle . using the modified biotin switch technique with different donors , a comparative proteomic strategy was devised to parse the effect of hno : cys modifications common to nca and as treatments were attributed to the increase in f max while sites unique to nca were considered candidates for the decrease in ca 50 . biotin switch samples were digested overnight with trypsin or chymotrypsin ; labeled peptides were captured with streptavidin and identified by lc / ms / ms . a total of 12 hno - induced modified cys on 8 proteins were identified between the two treatments , as shown in table 2 . of those , 4 sites ( tm cys190 , actin cys257 and mhc cys947 and cys1750 ) were found to be uniquely induced by nca . to confirm and characterize the candidate modifications , western blots from reducing / non - reducing 1d sds - page were performed in hopes of observing a molecular weight shift specific to hno donor treatment . the analysis revealed higher molecular weight species for tropomyosin , actin , myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain 1 , each of which were lost in the presence of 5 mm dtt ( fig4 ). myosin heavy chain and light chain 1 were found to be modified in a similar manner with both nca and as treatment as predicted by the ms experiments , displaying two potential populations consistent with formation of an mlc1 homodimer (˜ 50 kda ) and an heavy — light chain heterodimer (& gt ; 212 kda ). tropomyosin , which contains only one cys residue , was found to display a higher molecular weight species that was specific for nca treatment , consistent with ms findings . actin was found to possess higher molecular weight forms , at approximately 80 kda in both nca and as treatment . additionally , a loss of antibody epitope binding was observed for the monomeric form of actin with nca treatment . ms analysis ( ltq or ltq orbitrap lc / ms / ms ) of a silver stained gel bands revealed that with nca that the actin monomer displays increased gel mobility . analysis of other bands revealed that a similar , but less abundant , shift for actin in as treated samples also occurred ( fig4 , lower left image ). further analysis revealed that a molecular weight difference existed between the nca and as treated samples and that that the nca induced tropomyosin band runs at the same apparent molecular weight as actin . this form ran higher than the dimer produced when purified tm was treated with nca ( fig5 a and b ). to evaluate this mobility difference more carefully a difference in gel electrophoresis ( dige ) experiment was performed where purified tm or myofibrils were treated , independently labeled with different fluorescent dyes , mixed and separated in a non - reducing gel ( fig5 c ). the analysis revealed a distinct myofibril nca specific band ( cy3 — green ) higher than the purified tropomyosin homodimer ( cy2 — blue ) and below a series of as specific bands ( cy5 — red ). ms analysis of the region identified actin and tropomyosin to be present at that location and lost under reducing conditions ( fig5 d ). these results indicate the presence of an actin - tropomyosin heterodimer and based on the specificity of the site mapping studies supports the conclusion that a disulphide bridge forms between cys190 on tm and cys257 on actin . in skeletal muscle , hno increases ca 2 + sensitivity but not maximum force production due to the lack of mhc - mlc1 dimer formation to determine if mlc1 cys81 is involved in the increased maximum force production , the effect of hno donors was investigated in skeletal muscle preparations . skeletal muscle isoforms of myofilament proteins contain all of the potential target cys except for mlc1 , which lacks the candidate site cys81 providing a natural mutant sequence ( fig6 a ). steady - state force -[ ca 2 + ] i relations of skeletal muscle before and after exposure to nca ( 25 μmol / l ) are presented in fig6 b . ca 50 decreased significantly in the presence of nca while f max remained unchanged ( f max , 33 ± 3 . 8 vs . 31 . 7 ± 3 . 7 mn / mm 2 , p = ns ; ca 50 0 . 8 ± 0 . 1 vs . 1 . 07 ± 0 . 05 mmol / l , p & lt ; 0 . 05 ; hill , 4 . 36 ± 0 . 81 vs . 3 . 47 ± 0 . 82 , p = ns ). the same insensitivity of f max to as was also observed in skinned skeletal muscles ( data not shown ). 2d gel shift western blot analysis revealed an absence of higher molecular weight forms of mlc1 in nca treated skeletal samples ( fig6 c ). these results indicate that mlc1 cys81 is a critical residue and redox switch for the hno induced increase in cardiac force production . although the inventors are not bound by any particular theory to explain the invention , they have developed two models to describe how the dimers identified would alter the maximum force of contraction and lower the requirement for calcium activation during contraction . first is the heterodimer formed between actin and tropomyosin which they have found increases calcium sensitivity . tm , a key regulatory protein in muscle contraction , determines the readiness of myofilaments for activation upon ca 2 + binding to tnc . during initiation of contraction , the 3 state model of steric hinderance suggests that ca 2 + binding to tnc releases tm allowing it to move over the surface of actin from the b ( blocked ) state where it covered subdomains 1 and 2 to the c ( closed ) state contacting subdomain 3 and 4 exposing the high affinity myosin binding sites ( fig7 ). we propose that crosslinking of tropomyosin ( cys 190 ) to actin ( cys 257 , located in subdomain 4 ) restricts the movement of tropomyosin relative to actin shifting the average position to a greater c state character allowing greater access for myosin binding at lower ca levels providing the mechanism for the enhanced response to ca 2 + . tm is a two - stranded ( α - helical ) coiled - coil dimer of two parallel 284 - amino acid chains that wrap along the grooves of filamentous actin , spanning seven actin monomers . the secondary structure of tm is know to consist of 7 pseudo - repeats domains that mimic the structure of the actin filament and allow for coordinated association ( 12 ). each repeat can be divided into and alpha ( n - term ) and beta ( c - term ) domain . cys 190 of tm is located in the fifth peudo - repeat and would interact with the fifth of the seven actin monomers ( 13 ). the formation of disulphide bond via hno chemistry requires that both thiol groups be in close proximity to each other . previous investigation into the contacts made between actin and tropomyosin found that residues ( 167 - 184 alpha domain ) came in direct contact with residues in actin subdomain 3 ( 14 ). this would alignment would be consistent with cys 190 being in close association with actin cys 257 in subdomain 4 . additionally , in silico modeling predicted actin making points of contact with tropomyosin between glu253 and thr260 in subdomain 4 among others during calcium activation ( 15 ) further supporting the correct alignment and proximity for our proposed interaction . to address the change in maximum force seen in both the as and nca treated samples a mechanism has been proposed utilizing the observed interaction between myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain 1 . the regulatory light chain 1 is positioned like a collar just below the head region of the heavy chain bringing the identified residues cys 37 ( mhc ) and 81 ( mlc1 ) in close proximity . the inventors propose that a slight restriction or pinning of the myosin head by light chain 1 could alter the angle at which the face contacts the binding sites on the thin filament . the tweaking of this interaction by a pinned head may allow for more contacts at high calcium levels increasing the max force generated . however the other candidates identified with both treatments make speculation on the eventual mechanism difficult . to address this they completed one additional experiment . skeletal muscle is known to have some subtle isoform differences in the myofilament proteins . in particular the skeletal myosin light chain 1 lacks cysteine 81 from its sequence providing a natural mutagenesis situation . steady state measurements of isolated skeletal muscle preparations treated with as or nca revealed the nca specific decrease in ca 50 but neither demonstrated the increase in maximum force ( fig8 ). this provides strong evidence for the effect of a pinned head interaction to drive the increase in maximal contractual force . based on the analysis presented above , the inventors posit that any covalent crosslink , including disulfide bond formation that restricts the movement of tm or myosin heavy chain in this way would be a good candidate for producing the same functional effects of increasing calcium sensitivity and maximum force . as such , any bioactive compound with the potential to establish this type of interaction could be evaluated using the gel shift assay described in this work . thus , detection of reagents which induce the formation of these dimers will also alter contractility . the dimers can be monitored at level of muscle or contractile tissue , isolated cells , isolated myofilbrils , isolated proteins or peptides of the regions where the crosslinking occurs . detection of the crosslinking can be detected by functional change , formation of the covalent crosslink , antibodies or other detecting reagents , molecular weight alterations , mass spectroscopy based methods while specific examples have been provided , the above description is illustrative and not restrictive . any one or more of the features of the previously described embodiments can be combined in any manner with one or more features of any other embodiments in the present invention . furthermore , many variations of the invention become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the specification . the scope of the invention should , therefore , be determined not with reference to the description herein , but instead should be determined with reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents . references cited herein are listed below and are hereby incorporated by reference : 1 . gordon , a . m ., homsher , e ., and regnier , m . 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