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The promise of organoids for unraveling the proteomic landscape of the developing human brain

Molecular Psychiatry volume 27, pages 73–80 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cerebral organoids offer an opportunity to bioengineer experimental avatars of the developing human brain and have already begun garnering relevant insights into complex neurobiological processes and disease. Thus far, investigations into their heterogeneous cellular composition and developmental trajectories have been largely limited to transcriptional readouts. Recent advances in global proteomic technologies have enabled a new range of techniques to explore dynamic and non-overlapping spatiotemporal protein-level programs operational in these humanoid neural structures. Here we discuss these early protein-based studies and their potentially essential role for unraveling critical secreted paracrine signals, processes with poor proteogenomic correlations, or neurodevelopmental proteins requiring post-translational modification for biological activity. Integrating emerging proteomic tools with these faithful human-derived neurodevelopmental models could transform our understanding of complex neural cell phenotypes and neurobiological processes, not exclusively driven by transcriptional regulation. These insights, less accessible by exclusive RNA-based approaches, could reveal new knowledge into human brain development and guide improvements in neural regenerative medicine efforts.

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Fig. 1: Brain organoids model human neurodevelopment.
Fig. 2: Potential of integrating brain organoid systems with proteomic workflows.

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Acknowledgements

Portion of Figs. 1 and 2 were created by Biorender.com. The Diamandis Laboratory receives funding support from the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, 101 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7, Canada

    Sofia Melliou, Kevin T. Sangster, Ugljesa Djuric & Phedias Diamandis

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Sofia Melliou & Phedias Diamandis

  3. Laboratory Medicine Program, University Health Network, 200 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada

    Phedias Diamandis

  4. Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Phedias Diamandis

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Melliou, S., Sangster, K.T., Djuric, U. et al. The promise of organoids for unraveling the proteomic landscape of the developing human brain. Mol Psychiatry 27, 73–80 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01354-0

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