Proteomic detection of changes in protein synthesis induced by lanthanum in BGC-823 human gastric cancer cells.

There is increasing interest in the use of rare earth elements in medicine. However, the biological mechanism of action of this metal ion remains unclear. In the present study, changes in protein synthesis induced by lanthanum in BGC-823 human gastric cancer cells were investigated. The proteins were separated using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and four proteins were significantly affected by lanthanum treatment when compared to an untreated control. Among them, one was down-regulated and three were up-regulated. Of these, three were successfully identified as RHOJ, CSP6 and MPI2 with peptide mass fingerprinting using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOF-MS) after in-gel trypsin digestion. Among them, RHOJ was down-regulated and CSP6 and MPI2 were up-regulated. The three proteins are involved in various cellular functions, which are correlated with the regulation of cell morphology, gene transcription and cell cycle, respectively. It is suggested that the possible involvement of rare earth elements in the growth arrest of tumor cells is significantly associated with the differential protein expression induced by rare earth ions.