Comparative proteomic analysis of silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats based on tandem mass tag (TMT) quantitation technology

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 29;15(10):e0241310. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241310. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Silicosis is a systemic disease characterized by chronic persistent inflammation and incurable pulmonary fibrosis with the underlying molecular mechanisms to be fully elucidated. In this study, we employed tandem mass tag (TMT) based on quantitative proteomics technology to detect differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in lung tissues of silica-exposed rats. A total of 285 DEPs (145 upregulated and 140 downregulated) were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed to predict the biological pathway and functional classification of the proteins. Results showed that these DEPs were mainly enriched in the phagosome, lysosome function, complement and the coagulation cascade, glutathione metabolism, focal adhesion and ECM-receptor interactions. To validate the proteomics data, we selected and analyzed the expression trends of six proteins including CD14, PSAP, GM2A, COL1A1, ITGA8 and CLDN5 using parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). The consistent result between PRM and TMT indicated the reliability of our proteomic data. These findings will help to reveal the pathogenesis of silicosis and provide potential therapeutic targets. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD020625.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Databases, Protein*
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects*
  • Male
  • Proteomics*
  • Pulmonary Fibrosis / chemically induced
  • Pulmonary Fibrosis / metabolism*
  • Pulmonary Fibrosis / pathology
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Silicon Dioxide / toxicity*

Substances

  • Silicon Dioxide

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong (ZR2017YL001), the Innovation Project of Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Academic promotion programme of Shandong First Medical University (2019QL001), the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province (2018GSF118212, 2018GSF121007), China Coal Miner Pneumoconiosis Prevention Treatment Foundation (201915J039), the National Nature Science Foundation of Chian (No.81872603, 81600293). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.