Monitoring of gene expression by functional proteomics: response of human lung fibroblast cells to stimulation by endothelin-1.

Proteomic methods have been used to monitor changes in protein synthesis in the first 4 h following stimulation of human lung fibroblasts with endothelin-1. Using pulsed [(35)S]methionine labeling, about 70 proteins with altered protein synthesis could be detected, and the 35 proteins showing the largest changes were identified by mass spectrometry. The observed proteins included unexpected proteins such as Sox5, two isoforms of Rab14, Rab3A, translationally controlled tumor protein, and one protein of previously unknown function. There was a wide range of different kinetic behavior, and groups of functionally linked proteins such as Rab14, nucleophosmin,and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B could be detected from similar kinetics. We propose that the functional proteomic methods are competitive with and have some advantages compared to expression profiling methods for monitoring gene expression.