Scientists used a new tiny filter to collect proteins from skin wounds and discovered small pieces of thymosin beta4 and beta10. One short piece, LKKTETQ, helped wounds heal faster in lab dishes and animal tests, likely by acting on purinergic receptors.

The identification of in vivo secreted proteins is a major challenge in systems biology. Here we report a novel technique using capillary ultrafiltration (CUF) probes to identify the secreted proteins involved in wound healing. CUF probes, which use semipermeable membrane hollow fibers to continuously capture secreted proteins, were used to sample skin wound fluids. To identify low-abundance proteins, we digested the CUF probe-collected wound fluid with trypsin and then directly subjected it to MS without using 2-DE separation. Two protein fragments with masses of 1565.7 and 1694.8 Da were identified by MS as peptides of thymosin beta10 and beta4, respectively. This is the first identification of thymosin beta10 as an in vivo constituent of the skin wound fluid. The LKKTETQ peptide, a common actin-binding domain of thymosin beta4 and beta10, significantly enhanced skin wound healing in vitro and in vivo. Our data suggest that the enhancement of wound healing by LKKTETQ may be mediated by purinergic receptors. The technique of using CUF probes linked to mass spectrometric proteomics represents a powerful method to identify in vivo secreted proteins, and may be applicable for identification of proteins relevant in various human diseases.