Blood proteins

Blood proteins, also called "serum proteins", are proteins found in blood plasma. Serum total protein in blood is 7g/dl, which in total makes 7% of total body weight. They serve many different functions, including
*circulatory transport molecules for lipids, hormones, vitamins and metals
*enzymes, complement components, protease inhibitors, and kinin precursors
*regulation of acellular activity and functioning and in the immune system.

Separating serum proteins by electrophoresis is a valuable diagnostic tool as well as a way to monitor clinical progress.

Often mentioned blood proteins:

Other types of blood proteins include:PrealbuminAlpha 1 antitrypsinAlpha 1 acid glycoproteinAlpha 1 fetoproteinHaptoglobin Alpha 2 macroglobulinCeruloplasminTransferringC3/C4Beta 2 microglobulinBeta lipoprotein Gamma globulin proteins C-reactive protein (CRP)

*alpha2-macroglobulin
*Other globulins, which are of three types- alpha, beta and gamma.
*Lipoproteins (chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, HDL)
*Transferrin
*Prothrombin

All the plasma proteins are synthesized in liver except gamma globulins.

60% of plasma proteins are made up of the protein albumin, which are major contributors to osmotic pressure of plasma which assists in the transport of lipids and steroid hormones. Globulins make up 35% of plasma proteins and are used in the transport of ions, hormones and lipids assisting in immune function. 4% is fibrinogen and this is essential in the clotting of blood and can be converted into insoluble fibrin. Regulatory proteins which make up less than 1% of plasma proteins are proteins such as enzymes, proenzymes and hormones. Current research regarding blood plasma proteins is centered on performing proteomics analyses of serum/plasma in the search for biomarkers. These efforts started with two-dimensional gel electrophoresiscite journal | author=Anderson NL and Anderson NG | title=High Resolution Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis of Human Plasma Proteins | journal=Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences | year=1977 | pages=5421–5425 | volume=74 | pmid=271964 | doi=10.1073/pnas.74.12.5421] efforts in the 1970s and in more recent times this research has been performed using LC-tandem MScite journal | author=Adkins JN "et al" | title=Toward a human blood serum proteome: analysis by multidimensional separation coupled with mass spectrometry | journal=Molecular and Cellular Proteomics | year=2002 | pages=947–955 | volume=1 | pmid=12543931 | doi=10.1074/mcp.M200066-MCP200 ] cite journal | author=Jacobs JM "et al" | title=Utilizing human blood plasma for proteomic biomarker discovery | journal=Journal of Proteome Research | year=2005 | pages=1073–1085 | volume=4 | pmid=16083256 | doi=10.1021/pr0500657] based proteomics.

References

Clinical Chemistry : a laboratory perspective / [edited by] Wendy Arneson, Jean Brickell.