separations Article Targeted Expression of TGFBIp Peptides in Mouse and Human Tissue by MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging Venkatraman Anandalakshmi 1,†, Guillaume Hochart 2,†, David Bonnel 2, Jonathan Stauber 2, Shigeto Shimmura 3 , Rajamani Lakshminarayanan 1,4 , Konstantin Pervushin 5 and Jodhbir S. Mehta 1,4,6,* 1 Singapore Eye Research Institute, The Academia, 20 College Road, Level 6 Discovery Tower, Singapore 169856, Singapore;
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[email protected] (R.L.) 2 ImaBiotech, Parc Eurasanté, 152 Rue Du Docteur Yersin, 59120 Loos, France;
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[email protected] (J.S.) 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan;
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[email protected] 6 Singapore National Eye Centre, 11 Third Hospital Avenue, Singapore 168751, Singapore * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Fax: +65-6225-2568 † Both authors (VA and GH) contributed equally towards the publication. Abstract: Stromal corneal dystrophies are a group of hereditary disorders caused by mutations in the TGFBI gene. The mutant TGFBIp is prone to protein aggregation and the mutant protein gets deposited in the cornea, leading to severe visual impairment. The mutations lead to a corneal Citation: Anandalakshmi, V.; specific protein aggregation suggesting the involvement of tissue-specific factors. The exact molecular Hochart, G.; Bonnel, D.; Stauber, J.; mechanism of the process of tissue-specific protein aggregation remains to be elucidated.