Identification of cholesterol gallstone with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE We aimed to provide novel information to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying gallstones formation and explore the potential protein markers for gallstones progression. The gallbladder tissues were collected from 20 patients with cholesterol gallstone and 10 liver transplant donors from November 2010 to April 2011. The proteomics were compared between gallstone patients and controls by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). The differentially expressed proteins were identified and validated by western blotting and real-time PCR. RESULTS Total 19 protein spots were found to be different between two groups and 11 proteins were identified, among which 4 ones (such as Peroxiredoxin 3/Prdx3) were down-regulated and 7 (such as Tropomyosin 4/TPM4, Transgelin/SM22, Transthyretin/ TTR) were up-regulated in gallstone group. Results of western blotting and RT-PCR were consistent with the 2-DE results. CONCLUSION The differentially expressed proteins of TTR, TPM4, SM22 and Prdx3 may play key roles in gallstone formation and may be markers for gallstone progression.