Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is defined as a pattern of growth retardation, characteristic facial anomalies and mental retardation in children born to alcoholic women. It is essential to begin remedial treatment of FAS children as early as possible. Therefore biomarkers linked to infants destined to develop FAS are being sought. The discovery of biomarkers for FAS could also help to identify potential physiological mechanisms that mediate alcohol teratogenesis. Our Iong-term goal is to produce antibody microarrays for rat, mouse and human and screen various biological fluids and tissues to identify chemical, gene and pathway biomarkers for FAS and other fetal alcohol effects. We will produce hypothesis-driven targeted antibody arrays for selected (a) proteins and chemicals primarily involved with oxidative stress, (b) phosphorylated/non-phosphorylated protein pairs involved in cellular signaling through protein phosphorylation and (c) biologically active fatty acids and their ethyl esters. We will also produce protein chips to screen autoantibodies and protein-protein interactions. Durin.q Phase I, we will produce rat oxidative stress chips and phosphorylated/non-phosphorylated protein pair chips and biomarkers of FAS will be searched by screening proteins obtained from fetal liver tissues and rat placentas. In addition, we will produce antibodies for biologically active fatty acids.
