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Serum Proteomic Analysis Based on iTRAQ in Miners Exposed to Soil Containing Rare Earth Elements

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Abstract

To explore the toxic effects of rare earth elements (REEs) accumulated in human body, adopting the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method, the present study measured REEs and the contents of eight other elements (Ca, Fe, Cu, Na, K, Zn, Mg, and P) in the hair of eight persons exposed to soil containing REEs for a long time as well as in the control group. In addition, proteomic analysis of serum of the two groups was conducted by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technique. Experimental results show that in the hair of the two groups, 15 REEs and eight other elements were detected, in which the content of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Tb, Ho, Tm, Yb, and Fe in the exposure group is significantly higher than that of the control group, but the content of Ca in the exposure group is significantly lower than that of the control group; analysis yields out 29 differentially expressed proteins, in which 16 proteins are upregulated and 13 proteins are downregulated. Bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed proteins demonstrates that they participate in various biological processes and five Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, forming an interaction network. Besides, some differentially expressed proteins may be related to neurovirulence, hepatotoxicity, pathological fibrosis, osteoporosis, and anticoagulation caused by REEs. The present experiment investigated the toxic effects of REEs accumulated in human body at the molecular level, which may lay a foundation for the future research of biological effect, threshold limit values, protection from exposure, and reasonable application of REEs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81160228).

Conflict of Interest

The material does not have a conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopedic Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical institute of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shannxi Province, China

    Heming Liu & Kunzheng Wang

  2. Orthopedic Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province, China

    Jianzhong Wang

  3. Orthopedic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Baotou, Inner Mongolia Province, China

    Zenghua Yang

Authors
  1. Heming Liu
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  2. Jianzhong Wang
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  3. Zenghua Yang
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  4. Kunzheng Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kunzheng Wang.

Additional information

Heming Liu holds a Ph.D degree.

Jianzhong Wang holds a Ph.D degree.

Zenghua Yang holds a Ph.D degree.

Kunzheng Wang holds a Ph.D degree.

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Liu, H., Wang, J., Yang, Z. et al. Serum Proteomic Analysis Based on iTRAQ in Miners Exposed to Soil Containing Rare Earth Elements. Biol Trace Elem Res 167, 200–208 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0312-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0312-9

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