Proteome profiling of Epstein-Barr virus infected nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line: identification of potential biomarkers by comparative iTRAQ-coupled 2D LC/MS-MS analysis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a squamous cell carcinoma with high-occurrence in Southeast Asia and southern China. However, the underlying relationship of EBV and NPC squamous cell remains obscure. In this study, we employ a comparative iTRAQ-coupled 2D LC-MS/MS system to analyze the protein profile of NPC cell line upon EBV infection. Based on the proteome data and Western blot validation, 12 proteins were found to be significantly up-regulated and associated with signal transduction, cytoskeleton formation, metabolic pathways and DNA bindings. The interactions among NPC and EBV proteins were further analyzed and protein networks were established. Based on the functions of differentially expressed proteins, a metabolic pathway was proposed to elucidate their relationship in cytoskeleton formation, cell proliferation and apoptosis. Our results suggested a new proteome platform to analyze EBV's role in NPC squamous cell line. And these differentially expressed proteins may hold the promise as potential biomarkers for NPC diagnostics and treatment.