Quantitative proteomic dissection of a native 14-3-3ε interacting protein complex associated with hepatocellular carcinoma.

The 14-3-3 proteins regulate diverse biological processes that are implicated in cancer development, and seven 14-3-3 isoforms were identified with isoform-specific roles in different human tumors. In our previous work, we dissected the interactome of 14-3-3ε formed during the DNA damage response in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell using an AACT/SILAC-based quantitative proteomic approach. In this study, we used a similar proteomic approach to profile/identify the 14-3-3ε interactome formed in native HCC cells. Functional categorization and data-dependent network analysis of the native HCC-specific 14-3-3ε interactome revealed that 14-3-3ε is involved in the regulation of multiple biological processes (BPs)/pathways, including cell cycle control, apoptosis, signal transduction, transport, cell adhesion, carbohydrate metabolism, and nucleic acid metabolism. Biological validation further supports that 14-3-3ε, via association with multiple BP/pathway-specific proteins, coordinates the regulation of proliferation, survival, and metastasis of HCC. The findings in this study, together with those of our previous study, provide an extensive profile of the 14-3-3ε interaction network in HCC cells, which should be valuable for understanding the pathology of HCC and HCC therapy.