Proteomic Analysis of β-Thalassemia/HbE: A Perspective from Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs)

β-Thalassemia/HbE is highly prevalent in Southeast Asian countries, especially Thailand. It is a severe hereditary anemia disease involving ineffective erythropoiesis in the bone marrow and peripheral tissues. The excess of alpha globin and iron overload contribute to elevated oxidative damages leading to a premature cell death of erythroid cells and a diminished terminal differentiation of reticulocytes. Although proteomic approach would gain a comprehensive picture of the complex pathophysiology of human bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), obtaining sufficient clinical specimens remains an important issue. The employment of mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic profiling could overcome these constrains and provide useful insights into the cellular constituents and microenvironment in bone marrow milieu. In this chapter, we summarize the comparative proteomic studies analyzing CD34+/HSCs and bone marrow niche proteins. Under ineffective erythropoiesis, in-depth analyses of various proteome profiles revealed many of which have putative functions. Importantly, dysregulated cell death and survival signaling pathways could explain the deleterious pathogenesis of β-thalassemia/HbE.