Proteomic analysis of cholangiocarcinoma cell line

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a malignant tumor derived from bile duct epithelium, occurs with a higher incidence in tropical countries, such as Thailand. Distinguishing CCA from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of the liver often requires the use of histochemistry, so molecular markers for diagnosis and prognosis are still required. In this study, the two-dimensional (2-D) protein map of a Thai human bile duct epithelial carcinoma cell line (HuCCA-1) has been compared to human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2 and HCC-S102) and a human breast epithelial cancer cell line (MCF-7). Our results show that HuCCA-1 expressed a unique pattern of proteins. Forty-three major proteins were identified by matching to the map of MCF-7, and by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and electrospray ionization-tandem MS (ESI-MS/MS). Cytokeratins CK8 and CK18 were overexpressed in both HuCCA-1 and HCC, while CK7 and CK19 were only expressed in HuCCA-1. Four specific proteins with MW/pI 57.2/5.21 (U1, vimentin), 42.2/6.20 (U2), 43.2/6.20 (U3, EF-TU), and 42.2/6.40 (U4, unidentified) were absent from HepG2. U2 showed high expression in HuCCA-1, while U1 and U4 showed high expression in HCC-S102. U2 could be separated in 2 proteins, U2/1 (alpha-enolase) and U2/2 (not identified) by using IPG pH 4-7. Galectin-3 showed high expression level in HuCCA-1 by 1-DE immunodetection, and gave only one spot with MW 32.9 kDa and pI 8.29 on 2-DE immunoblotting, Thus, certain proteins, namely CK7, CK19, U2/2 and galectin-3, may be good markers useful for differential diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma compared to hepatocellular carcinoma.