Background: In vitro islet expansion has recently drawn interest for its potential application in diabetes therapy, while how islet cells adapt to in vitro circumstances is not quite clear.
Aim: Proteomics changes of cultivated islet cells under different conditions were examined in this study.
Material/subjects and methods: A comparative proteomics study was performed on fresh isolated islet cells, cultured cells and in vitro proliferating islet cells stimulated by basic fibroblast growth factor via electrophoresis and liquid chromatography in tandem with mass spectrometry.
Results: In total, 1897 proteins were identified in this study. Hierarchical analysis revealed substantial changes in the proteome during cultivation but relatively less difference between different culture conditions. Over 100 proteins showed significantly different expression levels between groups, most of which are involved in metabolism or cell process pathways. Overall, the detected proteins were involved in 152 known pathways. Furthermore, in-depth investigation suggested that some proteins, such as extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases and Rac, might play key roles in the proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation of in vitro cultured islet cells.
Conclusion: We established comparative proteome references of fresh and cultured islet cells, which could provide useful information for future islet transplantation strategy.