Nicotine-induced protein expression profiling reveals mutually altered proteins across four human cell lines

Area of Science:

• Proteomics
• Cellular Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Nicotine impacts cellular pathways, but its global proteomic effects across human cell lines are not fully understood.
• Understanding nicotine's influence on protein expression is crucial for elucidating its cellular mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively profile nicotine-induced proteomic alterations in multiple human cell lines.
• To identify common protein expression changes across different cell types in response to nicotine.

Main Methods:

• Utilized tandem mass tags (TMT10-plex) and high-resolution mass spectrometry for quantitative proteomic analysis.
• Investigated protein expression changes in four human cell lines (HEK, HeLa, PaSC, SH-SY5Y) after nicotine treatment.

Main Results:

• Quantified 8590 proteins across all cell lines.
• Identified 31 proteins with increased abundance (≥1.5-fold) in all cell lines upon nicotine exposure.
• Found 64 up-regulated and 1 down-regulated protein in at least three cell lines; many involved in transmembrane signaling and receptor activity.

Conclusions:

• Nicotine significantly dysregulates specific proteins, including APP, APLP2, LAPTM4B, and NCOA4, across diverse human cell lines.
• These identified proteins, particularly those involved in membrane-bound functions, may play critical roles in nicotine-mediated cellular responses, including autophagy.
• The findings suggest a conserved molecular response to nicotine, warranting further investigation in primary cells and additional cell lines.