SUMMARY
Daniel J. McCormick, Ph.D., is the director of the Mayo Clinic Proteomics Core (MCPC) and is also the director of the Proteomics Core Shared Resource in the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. The MCPC is an integral part of the Medical Genome Facility of the Center for Individualized Medicine.
Dr. McCormick is in partnership with other Medical Genome Facility cores to support the initiatives in genomics, proteomics and biomarker discovery with the ultimate goal of providing individualized patient care and treatment. The MCPC is a strategic resource to support Mayo staff scientists with state-of-the-art services in protein analysis and mass spectrometry. Many projects currently supported by the MCPC include research in cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, proteomics, diabetes, substance abuse and neurological disorders.
Focus areas
- In partnership with the cardiovascular research program of John C. Burnett Jr., M.D., Dr. McCormick has worked on the design and development of new natriuretic peptide (NP) drugs for the treatment of heart failure.
- In collaboration with Marie C. Hogan, M.D., Ph.D., and Peter C. Harris, Ph.D., Dr. McCormick has identified several important protein biomarkers in urine from patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).
- Dr. McCormick continues to work on methods for increased identification of proteins in proteomes from cells, biofluids and frozen tissue. Many proteomes identified and cataloged in these samples are from patient cancers.
- Working with the diabetes research program of Ananda Basu, M.B.B.S., M.D., Dr. McCormick is developing mass spectrometry-based methods for monitoring pancreatic alpha-cell function via glucagon secretion in individuals with diabetes and in those without diabetes.
Significance to patient care
Heart failure is a common condition in patients at Mayo Clinic. Prompt treatment with drugs is important for improving survival outcomes and long-term patient stability. Recent drugs that mimic endogenous NPs provide some beneficence to patients, but also have undesirable side effects. Recent development of novel chimeric multivalent NP drugs (Cenderitide, for example) has been shown to have important cardiorenal protective effects such as anti-fibrosis, natriuretic renal enhancing properties and neprilysin degradation resistance, which are not present in conventional drug treatments for heart failure.
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease is the most prevalent form of PKD, and ADPKD patients have a prevalence of mutations in either the PKD1 (85 percent) or PKD2 (15 percent) gene. The disease slowly progresses in the development of fluid-filled kidney cysts that leads to end-stage renal failure. Recent profiling of urinary exosomes by proteomics methods from PKD patients has revealed several important, and previously unknown, protein biomarkers. Three biomarkers: polycystin-1, polycystin-2 and transmembrane protein, were determined to have high significance in PKD. Ratios of these three biomarkers distinguished individuals with PKD1 mutations from healthy controls, and overall findings suggest a new test of clinical utility in the diagnosis and monitoring of PKD.
Professional highlights
- Co-principal investigator, Mayo Cancer Center Grant, Proteomics Core Shared Resource, 2013-2018
- Gordon and Elizabeth Gilroy Fund, Proteomics Core, Mayo Clinic, 2013-2015
- Co-principal investigator, Mayo Cancer Center Grant, Proteomics Core Shared Resource, 2008-2013