Katarzyna
Wojdyla‡§
a,
Krzysztof
Wrzesinski§
b,
James
Williamson¶
a,
Stephen J.
Fey
b and
Adelina
Rogowska-Wrzesinska
*a
aProtein Research Group, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark. E-mail: adelinar@bmb.sdu.dk
bTissue Culture Engineering Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
First published on 2nd March 2016
Acetaminophen (APAP) is possibly the most widely used medication globally and yet little is known of its molecular effects at therapeutic doses. Using a novel approach, we have analysed the redox proteome of the hepatocellular cell line HepG2/C3A treated with therapeutic doses of APAP and quantitated both individual protein abundance and their reversible S-nitrosylation (SNO) and S-sulfenylation (SOH) modifications by mass spectrometry. APAP treatment results in a late, transient increase in ATP production and a multiplicity of alterations in protein abundance and modifications. The majority of the differentially SNO or SOH modified proteins are found in the endoplasmic reticulum and cytosol, suggesting that the source of reactive species is there. The cellular response indicates: constraint of fatty acid metabolism; reduction in ribosome construction and protein synthesis (to conserve ATP); maintenance of glutathione levels (by increased synthetic capacity); and an increased NADPH production (via the pentose phosphate pathway). This response appears to be coordinated, directly or indirectly, by the canonical Wnt and Nrf2 signalling pathways. Combined with the known role of NAPQI, these studies suggest that the physiological and toxicological responses form a continuum: therapeutic doses of APAP produce reactive species and NAPQI in the cytoplasm but result in little permanent damage. The cell mounts a multifaceted response which minimises disruption and repairs are effected within a day or two. Higher doses of APAP lead to intensified reactive species production, which increasingly disturbs mitochondrial function and eventually leads to cell death.
APAP is mainly metabolized in the liver by phase II conjugating enzymes to nontoxic products (acetaminophen-sulphate or -glucuronide) or by the phase I cytochrome P450 family of enzymes (specifically CYP2E1, CYP1A2, and CYP3A4). CYP2E1 in particular has been shown to generate the toxic N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), a reactive metabolite that binds to cysteine residues in cellular proteins.2,3 Toxic doses of APAP lead to saturation of the sulphate and glucuronide pathways and to an increased production of NAPQI. This leads to glutathione (GSH) depletion, and the NAPQI is thought to cause hepatotoxicity by forming acetaminophen–protein adducts.4N-Acetylcysteine treatment can prevent or limit liver injury by restoring hepatic GSH concentrations.4
Thus, while earlier research suggested that NAPQI and its protein adducts gave rise to hepatotoxicity and that glutathione (GSH) had a protective role, recent research has shown that low levels of these products are formed even after administering therapeutic doses (4 g daily) to trial participants.5 At these therapeutic APAP doses, cytosolic NADPH:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is strongly upregulated6 and detoxifies NAPQI by reducing the quinone to hydroquinone (using NADPH in the process).7 At the same time NAPQI is rapidly and irreversibly conjugated with GSH.8 Currently, it is considered that excess NAPQI–protein adducts cause mitochondrial oxidative stress. Increasing levels of NAPQI stimulate reactive metabolite formation (e.g. Reactive Oxygen Species, ROS), which induces structural alterations in mitochondrial proteins and DNA. At high stress levels this causes a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, cessation of ATP synthesis and an initiation of cell death. The release of cytochrome C and other proapoptotic factors promotes caspase activation and apoptotic cell death.9
In view of the role played by reactive metabolites, we analysed protein oxidation in order to probe deeper into the effects of APAP treatment. Superoxide (O2˙−) is a known by-product of NAPQI metabolism. Its neutralisation by intracellular antioxidant systems leads to the formation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and peroxynitrite (ONOO−),9 both of which are capable of modifying proteins. Cysteine thiols are highly susceptible to oxidation by these species and can form e.g. S-sulfenic acid (SOH) and/or S-nitrosothiol (SNO).
SOH is predominantly generated by the spontaneous reaction of cysteines with H2O2. SOH is highly reactive and short-lived and may be irreversibly oxidised to sulfinic (SO2H) and sulfonic acid (SO3H). Therefore SOH is a marker of oxidative stress-related damage.10
SNO is formed by either the direct interaction of cysteines with nitrogen species e.g. peroxynitrite or results from transnitrosylation (the transfer of the nitroso group from S-nitrosylated small molecules or proteins). SNO modification can alter enzyme activity and protein–protein interactions, mediate protein localisation and alter protein stability.11
SNO and SOH are well recognised for their role in the regulation of protein activity and protein–protein interaction and thereby provide an additional avenue for intracellular signalling.12 Therefore we have re-investigated the APAP mode of action using a recently developed mass spectrometry-based SNO/SOH TMT method.13 This approach enables site-specific quantitation of SNO and SOH simultaneously, with concurrent correction of modification levels by protein abundance changes. The sensitivity of SNO/SOH TMT allows the detection of endogenous oxidation levels of the individual proteins.13
Understanding the molecular response to APAP treatment needs to be investigated in models relevant to human pathophysiology. Cell lines derived from human hepatocellular carcinomas are an inexpensive and reproducible source of essentially unlimited amounts of material for study. However, HepG2 and its daughter strain HepG2/C3A (hereafter denoted C3A) are generally regarded as poor models for hepatotoxicology.14–16 This perception is based on the use of cell culture techniques that disfavour the cellular expression of functions seen in vivo. When grown as 3D spheroids, and without using special media, growth factors or other chemicals (e.g. DMSO), C3A restore, over an 18 day period, cholesterol, urea, ATP, glycogen production and growth rates seen in vivo.17 Ramaiahgari et al. obtained very similar results using the closely related HepG2 cell line cultivated in Matrigel under 3D conditions, where they showed increased expression of albumin, xenobiotic transcription factors, phase I and II drug metabolism enzymes and transporters.18 The hepatic features recovered by growing cells in various types of 3D culture systems have been reviewed recently.19,20 These metabolic features are stable for at least 24 days.17,18 C3A 3D spheroids retain epigenetic markers that are seen in the liver but lost when the C3A cells are cultivated under 2D conditions.21 This recovery of physiological performance when grown in 3D is not limited to HepG2 but is also seen with other cell lines, for example, HepRG22 and many other cell types (reviewed in ref. 17 and 23). Most importantly, indirect comparison of LD50 values for in vitro and in vivo toxicity showed that data from C3A spheroids correlated better with in vivo observations than did studies using traditional two dimensional cultures of primary human hepatocytes (for 5 commonly used drugs including APAP).24
We hypothesise that the redox imbalance triggered by APAP metabolism would alter levels of SNO and SOH protein modifications. Many of these types of protein modifications are transient and could be involved in rapidly regulating the cellular non-hormonal intracrine signalling and response to APAP.
The following APAP final concentrations were used: 0, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 mg APAP per mg cellular protein (referred to as mg mg−1). For the time-course experiment, mature C3A spheroids were treated with repetitive doses of APAP at 0, 48, 96, 144, 192 and 240 h, i.e. providing fresh APAP at the same time for each medium change. All treatments and controls were performed in duplicate (two 10 ml bioreactors were used for each treatment point).
Because the plasma half-life of paracetamol is 1.5–2.5 h (ref. 28) it was decided to collect samples immediately before and two, four and 24 hours after APAP treatment. Combining this sampling regimen with the 48 h media-exchange protocol resulted in samples being collected at 0, 2, 4, 24, 48, 50, 52, 72, 96, 98, 100, 120, 144, 146, 148, 168, 192, 194, 196, 216, 240, 242 and 244 h.
Each bioreactor vessel contained exactly 150 spheroids. The treatment dose was 0, 2.5 and 5 mg APAP per mg cellular protein. 30 spheroids from each treatment group were sampled at 24, 48, 96 and 144 h, and washed twice with warm HANKS and once with PBS, allowing the spheroids to sediment naturally to the bottom of the tube each time. Washed spheroids were lysed in a lysis/free-thiol blocking buffer containing 150 mM HEPES, pH 7.3, 1 mM EDTA, 0.1 mM neocuproine, 2% SDS, and 50 mM MMTS.
For SNO/SOH analysis all the steps from lysis/blocking until western blot detection and visualization were performed as previously described.13 For carbonylation analysis, DNPH derivatisation and detection were performed using the OxyBlot™ kit (Merck Millipore) as previously described.30 Density analysis was performed using Image Studio Lite v. 3.1 (LI-COR Biosciences) as previously described.30 Briefly, the optical density of each lane was normalised to the averaged total density of all the lanes on the gel and expressed as percentage of the optical density. At each treatment time point the data were normalised to the control. Statistical analysis of the density data was performed using one-way ANOVA (p < 0.05) and the t-test (p < 0.05) built in the Microsoft Excel 2010 package.
6 bioreactors containing 150 spheroids each (approx. 4 mg protein) were used for experiments. Cells in 3 bioreactors were treated with 5 mg APAP per mg cellular protein for 48 h and the other 3 bioreactors were used as control samples (triplicate biological replicates). After treatment, spheroids were washed twice with HANKS and once with PBS. Both the control and treated spheroids were resuspended in lysis/blocking buffer and were lysed by sonication. All the steps from lysis/blocking until anti-TMT™ enrichment and sample clean up were essentially the same as previously described.13 Several minor alterations were applied for improvement. To maximise the efficiency of free thiol blocking, 6 ml of lysis/blocking buffer were used for lysis. The samples were sonicated using 6 rounds of 20 s ON/5 s OFF at an amplitude of 50% in a tip sonicator (Q500, Qsonica). After acetone precipitation, protein pellets were washed 4 times with ice cold acetone before re-suspension in AENS buffer (50 mM AMBI, pH 8, 1 mM EDTA, 0.1 mM neocuproine, 2% SDS) to maximise removal of unbound MMTS.
Peptides with a SNO and/or SOH fold change equal to or greater than ±1.5 (log2 ± 0.585) when observed in at least 2 biological replicates were selected as rank 2 peptides. Rank 2 proteins/peptides were predominantly used as additional evidence to support biological processes revealed by the rank 1 group (2 sigma analysis). Peptides with SNO/SOH quantitative values from APAP treatment only were selected as candidates for rank 3. Selection required that the respective reporter ions (129 for SNO and 131 for SOH) were present in at least 2 biological replicates at an intensity ≥1000.
We have quantified 8 iodoTMT™-containing peptides (11 SNO/SOH sites) from 8 proteins which fall in rank 1 (>2 sigma) for quantitative abundance change between control and APAP-treated spheroids. For instance, for the fatty acid synthase (FASN) the SNO levels of C1448 and C1459 were above 2 sigma in all 3 biological replicates. Rank 2 (>1.5-fold change) selected 41 SNO and/or SOH modified peptides. For one protein (EEF2) we found a rank 2 peptide additional to those found in the rank 1 subset. The remaining rank 2 peptides represented a further 40 modified proteins. Finally, the rank 3 group included 13 unique iodoTMT™-containing peptides (21 SNO and/or SOH sites) from 13 proteins. Altogether, we quantified 61 APAP sensitive SNO/SOH proteins.
nLC MSMS analysis and database search were performed as for the iodoTMT™-6plex experiment, with few modifications. For MS2, fragment ions were acquired in the ion trap using a rapid mode with an AGC target of 5E3 ions, a maximum injection time of 35 ms and the NCE of 32. In the database search, fragment mass tolerance was 0.6 Da, cysteine carbamidomethylation was used as a fixed modification and methionine oxidation as a variable modification. Quantitative information from label-free experiments was retrieved from nLC MSMS data using the chromatographic alignment feature within Progenesis LC MS (Nonlinear Dynamics) as previously described.13 Significance analysis was performed using the ANOVA test built into Progenesis LC MS software. Proteins with at least 3 quantified peptides and ANOVA significance value p ≤ 0.01 were considered significant.
Time-course experiments measuring cellular ATP levels and global changes in protein SOH, SNO and carbonylation were initially performed to establish the optimal treatment conditions to be used in the analysis of the C3A redox proteome.13
For the lower APAP doses (2.5 and 5 mg mg−1), we observed fluctuations in the ATP levels over time, characterised by slight drops immediately after treatment followed by recoveries, showing intensified ATP production from 24 to 48 h after treatment as the cell presumably repairs the damage done (Fig. 1a). The overall cell viability was not affected throughout the treatment period and ATP levels returned to baseline levels in the absence of further APAP treatment. Contrary to this, at higher APAP doses (10 and 20 mg mg−1) ATP production diminished greatly, indicating the onset of cytotoxicity and lethality. Since the goal of this study was to focus on the effects of physiological doses of APAP, the doses of 10 and 20 mg APAP per mg cellular protein were excluded from subsequent analyses.
As the next step in defining the optimal conditions for the study, we analysed the overall redox homeostasis using 2.5 and 5 mg APAP per mg cellular protein at the time points 24, 48, 96 and 144 h. Changes in protein oxidation were monitored by SNO and SOH TMT western blot (showing reversible protein oxidation, Fig. 1b and c respectively) and carbonyl western blot assay (irreversible protein oxidation, Fig. 1d). Our results show that both doses induce a progressive accumulation of SNO modification over time, which apparently peaked at about 96 h (Fig. 1b). This was surprising considering that the biological half-life of APAP is only 2 h. A similar trend of progressive accumulation was also observed for SOH (even though the magnitude of changes was considerably lower). Significant differences in SNO levels were detected after 48 h of treatment with 2.5 and 5 mg of APAP (Fig. 1b). SOH levels also changed significantly after 144 h of treatment with 2.5 mg APAP and after 96 h and 144 h in 5 mg of APAP (Fig. 1c). Interestingly, at 2.5 mg mg−1 the accumulation of SOH was lower and the oxidation levels did not appear to saturate, even after 144 h (Fig. 1c).
The largest, simultaneous increase in SNO and SOH levels was observed at 96 h after cell treatment with 5 mg APAP per mg cellular protein. However, at this point, cell activity was already affected as indicated by the strong increase in ATP production (Fig. 1a). At 5 mg mg−1 after 48 h there was only a minimal effect on ATP production and essentially no observed increase in the irreversible protein carbonylation levels (Fig. 1a and d). Under these conditions increases in both SNO and SOH levels were observed. Therefore, this treatment (5 mg APAP per mg cellular proteins for 48 h) was used for all subsequent experiments. At that level, 6 consecutive APAP treatments had no effect on the overall viability of the spheroids during a 10 day treatment regimen (Fig. 1a).
Ingenuity® Pathway Analysis revealed that the energetic balance of the cells was significantly affected by APAP treatment as indicated by the increased abundance of enzymes belonging to the pentose phosphate pathway (ESI Table S1B†). In addition, there was a significant decrease of several enzymes belonging to the EIF2 signalling pathway (including 9 ribosomal proteins and 5 translation initiation factors, suggesting that APAP treatment affected protein synthesis); an increase in several proteins involved in the NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response pathway and an increase in the abundance of three glutathione S-transferases GSTT1, GSTK1, GSTM3 and the related GGH (1.53, 1.20, 1.49 and 1.32 fold respectively). The observed protein abundance changes illustrate activation of antioxidant machinery and increased energy production that are both required to neutralise the effects of APAP treatment.
The identified SNO/SOH proteins in the C3A proteome belong to basic molecular pathways, e.g. protein synthesis and degradation, fatty acid metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, as illustrated in ESI Fig. S4.†
Taking into account known SNO/SOH modifications from the curated databases RedoxDB37 and dbSNO,38 our study has identified 737 SNO and 695 SOH novel sites corresponding to 479 SNO and 453 SOH modified proteins (ESI Fig. S5 and Table S1D†). Thus, this study is the most comprehensive inventory of SNO/SOH sites and proteins observed in human hepatocarcinoma cells to date. These SNO/SOH modified proteins were used as a baseline for APAP treatment studies.
Considering all unique iodoTMT™-containing peptides, the average SNO occupancy in the control was 1.55% ±0.20 increasing to 2.00% ±0.43 following APAP treatment. For SOH, the average occupancy in the control was 0.56% ±0.15 and this was unchanged following APAP treatment (0.57% ±0.16, ESI Table S1C†). There was no correlation between the changes in protein modification levels and the percentage of site occupancy (ESI Fig. S6†).
To identify the APAP sensitive sites, we applied rank-based selection criteria (Fig. 3b and Table 1). ESI Table S1E† contains an extended version of Table 1; annotated MSMS spectra and assigned ion series masses of all modified peptides are available in ESI Fig. S8†.
UniProt Accession | Protein name (UniProt) | Gene name (primary) | Primary cellular location(s)a | SNO/SOH siteb | Rankc | SNOd | SOHd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a Primary cellular location(s) according to UniProt: cyto, cytoplasm or cytosol; nucl, nuclear; mito, mitochondrial; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; Golgi, golgi apparatus; perox, peroxisome; secretory, secreted, vesicles, extracellular matrix. b SNO/SOH site – amino acid number within the protein sequence that has been modified by SNO and/or SOH. c Rank – criteria used to select proteins with significant changes in the SNO and/or SOH modification levels upon APAP treatment were as follows: 1 – peptides with 2 sigma values for a minimum of 2 biological replicates; 2 – peptides with SNO and/or SOH fold change equal to or beyond ±1.5 (log2 ± 0.585) if observed in a minimum of 2 biological replicates; 3 – peptides that contained only reporter ions corresponding to samples treated with APAP, the respective reporter ions (129 for SNO and 131 for SOH) were present in min. 2 biological replicates at an intensity ≥1000. d SNO and SOH – regulation trend observed in quantitative redox proteomics experiments for the particular modification type, up/down – modification abundance increased/decreased in cells treated with APAP. | |||||||
RNA and mRNA processing | |||||||
Q00839 | Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U | HNRNPU | Nucl | 607 | 1 | Up | |
P42704 | Leucine-rich PPR motif-containing protein, | LRPPRC | Nucl/Mito | 130 | 2 | Up | |
Q9GZT3 | SRA stem–loop-interacting RNA-binding protein | SLIRP | Mito | 48 | 2 | Up | |
P55769 | NHP2-like protein 1 | NHP2L1 | Nucleolus | 30 | 2 | Down | |
Protein synthesis | |||||||
P13639 | Elongation factor 2 | EEF2 | Cyto | 290 | 1 | Up | |
P13639 | Elongation factor 2 | EEF2 | Cyto | 369 | 2 | Up | |
P41250 | Glycine–tRNA ligase | GARS | Cyto/Mito | 461 | 3 | Up | |
P41252 | Isoleucine–tRNA ligase | IARS | Cyto | 336 | 1 | Down | |
P55884 | Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit B | EIF3B | Cyto | 302 | 2 | Up | |
P23396 | 40S ribosomal protein S3 | RPS3 | Cyto | 134 | 3 | Up | |
P62280 | 40S ribosomal protein S11 | RPS11 | Cyto | 116 | 2 | Up | |
P36578 | 60S ribosomal protein L4 | RPL4 | Cyto | 250 | 2 | Up | |
P30050 | 60S ribosomal protein L12 | RPL12 | Cyto | 162 | 3 | Up | |
P62888 | 60S ribosomal protein L30 | RPL30 | Cyto | 52 | 2 | Up | |
Q9Y6G3 | 39S ribosomal protein L42 | MRPL42 | Mito | 45 | 2 | Down | |
Protein folding and trafficking | |||||||
Q9Y3B3 | Transmembrane emp24 domain-containing protein 7 | TMED7 | ER/Cyto/Golgi | 59; 75 | 1 | Up | |
P55735 | Protein SEC13 homolog | SEC13 | ER/Cyto/Golgi | 234 | 2 | Up | |
P78371 | T-complex protein 1 subunit beta | CCT2 | Cyto | 412 | 1 | Down | |
P55145 | Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor | MANF | Secretory | 151 | 2 | Down | |
Lipid metabolism | |||||||
P49327 | Fatty acid synthase | FASN | Cyto/Golgi | 1448; 1459 | 1 | Up | |
Q8NBQ5 | Estradiol 17-beta-dehydrogenase 11 | HSD17B11 | Cyto/Secretory | 215; 217 | 1 | Up | |
P14324 | Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase | FDPS | Cyto/Mito/Nucl | 333, 340 | 3 | Up | |
O95573 | Long-chain-fatty-acid–CoA ligase 3 | ACSL3 | Mito/Perox/ER | 450 | 2 | Up | |
O60488 | Long-chain-fatty-acid–CoA ligase 4 | ACSL4 | Mito/Perox/ER | 221 | 2 | Up | |
P37268 | Squalene synthase | FDFT1 | ER | 147 | 2 | Down | |
WNT signalling | |||||||
Q9HB71 | Calcyclin-binding protein | CACYBP | Nucl/Cyto | 154 | 2 | Up | |
Q9GZS3 | WD repeat-containing protein 61 | WDR61 | Nucl/Cyto | 303 | 1 | Up | |
P35222 | Catenin beta-1 | CTNNB1 | Cyto/Nucl | 520 | 2 | Up | |
Q86VP6 | Cullin-associated NEDD8-dissociated protein 1 | CAND1 | Cyto/Nucl | 237 | 2 | Up | |
P63244 | Guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit beta-2-like 1 | GNB2L1 | Cyto | 168 | 2 | Up | |
Q9UK22 | F-box only protein 2 | FBXO2 | Cyto | 71 | 2 | Down | Down |
P63208 | S-phase kinase-associated protein 1 | SKP1 | Cyto | 120 | 2 | Down |
Significance analysis revealed that less than 10% of all the quantified iodoTMT™-containing peptides were differentially S-nitrosylated and/or S-sulfenylated as a result of APAP treatment. Gene Ontology (GO) annotation enrichment analysis strongly points to the cytosol/cytoplasm as the most significantly enriched cellular localisation (GO: 0005829; p = 1.09 × 10−7), while the most heavily overrepresented group was proteins present in extracellular organelles e.g. extracellular membrane vesicles (GO: 0043230; p = 1.64 × 10−27). The latter group contained liver-specific proteins such as prothrombin (F2), fibronectin (FN1) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). In AFP, 8 SNO/SOH sites were identified, all of which are canonically involved in intrinsic disulfide bonds. The primary functional Gene Ontologies for rank 1 peptides were: RNA and mRNA processing, protein synthesis, protein folding and trafficking, lipid metabolism and canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway, as annotated in UniProt (Table 1).
Protein synthesis was the largest and the most diverse group affected, comprising 14 proteins (16 SNO/SOH sites). They covered a range of associated processes from RNA binding to ribosomal translation, protein folding and transport (Fig. 4a). In particular, the protein translation machinery was highly represented, containing 10 modified proteins (Table 1). In general, there was an increase in abundance of both SNO and SOH. The exceptions were NHP2-like protein 1 (NHP2L1), the cytoplasmic isoleucine–tRNA ligase (IARS) and the T-complex protein 1 subunit beta (CCT2) for which we observed a decrease in SOH abundance.
Fig. 4 APAP-sensitive proteins related to protein synthesis (a). Proteins with cysteine SNO/SOH levels changed significantly between APAP treatment and control were used to map out the pathway based on manual inspection of UniProt annotations. Proteins are represented by their respective gene names. Changes in cysteine oxidations are marked with arrows. N – S-nitrosylation, S – S-sulfenylation, ↑ – min. 1.5-fold increase in abundance, ↓ – min. 1.5 decrease in abundance. I and G are abbreviations of amino acids, isoleucine and glycine respectively. The corresponding data on protein expression and SNO/SOH modification levels are provided in ESI Table S1.† APAP-sensitive proteins from the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway (b). Proteins with cysteine SNO/SOH levels changed significantly between APAP treatment and control were used to map out the pathway based on manual inspection of UniProt annotations. Proteins are represented by their gene names. Changes in cysteine oxidations are marked with arrows. N – S-nitrosylation, S – S-sulfenylation, ↑ – min. 1.5-fold increase in abundance, ↓ – min. 1.5 decrease in abundance. Alternative routes of Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction are marked with dashed arrows. Protein names marked with arrows indicate proteins up (↑) or down (↓) regulated under APAP treatment. SCF – Skp, cullin, F-box containing complex (multiprotein E3 ubiquitin ligase complex); Ub – ubiquitination; PAF1C – RNA Polymerase-associated factor 1 complex. The corresponding data on protein expression and SNO/SOH modification levels are provided in ESI Table S1.† |
The canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway was also highly represented with 7 differentially modified proteins (Table 1). One of these was from rank 1 (SOH-peptide from WD repeat-containing protein 61 (WDR61)) while the other 6 proteins were rank 2 selected peptides. Of the latter group, 4 proteins were from the SCF (SKP1-CUL1-F-box protein) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex (Fig. 4b).
Six proteins involved in lipid synthesis and metabolism were also differentially modified (Table 1). All but one exhibited a significant increase in SNO/SOH levels upon APAP treatment, and this exception was squalene synthase (FDFT1). Two of the proteins bearing increased modification levels (FASN and FDFT1) require NADPH for their function.
In addition to the above functional groups, proteins modified upon APAP treatment were involved in glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, DNA damage and stress response. The list is provided in ESI Table S1B.†
The levels of SNO and SOH were decreased for 9 and 11 proteins respectively upon APAP treatment (ESI Table S1E†). This unexpected finding can be explained by the fact that cysteines oxidised to SNO or SOH can also become further oxidised to sulfinic (SO2H) and sulfonic acid (SO3H), indicators of severe, irreversible oxidation of proteins. These modifications cannot be detected by the SNO/SOH TMT method, but may contribute to the decreased signal of SNO or SOH.
In our study, site occupancy differs considerably from protein to protein (a complete list of site occupancy values for all SNO/SOH proteins is presented in ESI Table S1C†).
In addition to examining the APAP-induced differentially modified cysteines, sites exhibiting high site occupancy were also considered. The cysteine site C880 from POTEJ (POTE ankyrin domain family member J) was the site with the highest oxidation occupancy upon APAP treatment for both modifications: 8.6 ±2.2% was SNO modified and a further 10.6 ±2.4% was SOH modified (Fig. 5a). In other words, almost a fifth (19.2%) of the C880 site was oxidised. The second most SNO modified site was C892 of the ribosome binding protein 1 (RRBP1, located in the endoplasmic reticulum) with 7.2 ±2.3% SNO occupancy (Fig. 5b). The third most SNO modified site was C232 from the cytosolic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) where 6.6 ±4.8% of the site was modified (Fig. 5c).
Fig. 5 Proteins with the highest observed levels of relative site occupancy for SNO (a, b and c) and SOH (a, d and e) modifications in cells treated with APAP (5 mg APAP per mg cellular protein for 48 h). Average site occupancy values were calculated for min. 2 biological replicates, error bars correspond to ±standard deviation. Presented are gene names corresponding to the following proteins: POTEJ – POTE ankyrin domain family member J; RRBP1 – ribosome-binding protein 1; G6PD – glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase; TF – serotransferrin; TXN – thioredoxin. The corresponding data for relative SNO SOH site occupancy levels for all sites and proteins identified in this study are provided in ESI Table S1C.† |
Amongst S-sulfenylations, C156 from the secretion-destined sero transferrin (TF) was the second most modified site with 7.4% ±1.9 SOH (Fig. 5d). The C35 site from the antioxidant thioredoxin (TXN) was the third most abundant SOH site with 5.2% ±2.1 (Fig. 5e).
Within the top 10 SNO/SOH highest occupancy sites, 3 were extracellular/secreted proteins, the significance of which is unclear.
None of the cellular or extracellular proteins, which show high site occupancy, was differentially modified upon APAP treatment, underlining that the changes in SNO/SOH sites described above were highly specific.
Finally, two different proteins were observed where the modified cysteine plays a catalytic role: SNO and SOH modifications of the active site C248 from thiosulfate sulfurtransferase (TST) (ProSITE-ProRule annotation) and C35 from thioredoxin (TXN).41 Interestingly, although SNO and SOH levels of TXN did not change significantly, both were amongst those with the highest occupancy (6.1 ±3.6% and 5.2 ±2.1% respectively).
In general, the proteomic data from both protein abundance and oxidative modification levels indicate a significant, but mild oxidative insult. The distributions of the changes in SNO and SOH modifications were highly specific and occurred in a number of low abundance proteins. The proteins involved fit well with existing data describing the effect of APAP on hepatocytes in vitro and in vivo42–44 and reveal a novel mechanism for signal transduction.
The localisation of modified proteins to the ER and cytoplasm is consistent with the observation that P450 cytochromes are a known source of reactive species following APAP treatment.1,45 The reactive species generated are primarily in the form of H2O2 and peroxinitrite (ONOO−) which are both known to induce SNO/SOH formation.1 The high reactivity and short half-life of peroxinitrite combined with its limited ability to diffuse across biological membranes46 contribute to its highly localised impact. In addition to H2O2 and peroxinitrite, NAPQI is also produced in the ER and is known to play a central role in APAP-induced hepatotoxicity.2,3,47
In the ER and cytoplasm, changes were seen in both protein abundance and oxidative modifications. In general, their abundance was decreased and they were heavily S-nitrosylated and/or S-sulfenylated. The ER protein, RRBP1, was the second most SNO modified protein (Fig. 5b). Additionally, two proteins directly associated with the ER, TMED7 and SEC13 possessed significantly increased SNO levels under APAP treatment (Table 1).
In the cytoplasm, the abundance of all 13 components of 40S ribosome, that were detected, was reduced on average by 1.25-fold (in a remarkably coordinated manner showing a standard deviation (SD) of only ±0.05). The same effect was seen for all of the 17 detected 60S ribosomal proteins (1.26-fold, SD ±0.07). Revealing a hitherto unexpected specificity, components of the 40S ribosome were differentially S-sulfenylated whereas all the identified proteins associated with the 60S ribosome were S-nitrosylated (ESI Table S1E†). This specificity can be extended to the initiation factor EIF3B which binds to and shows the same SOH modification as the small subunit whereas the elongation factor EEF2 interacts with both subunits and shows both SOH and SNO modifications.
In contrast, the level of SNO modification of the 39S mitochondrial ribosomal protein L42 was decreased. Two examples of mitochondrial proteins which show increased SOH modification were the long-chain acyl-CoA synthetases 3 and 4 (Table 1). These are both located in the outer mitochondrial membrane.
Together, the presence of APAP-inducible SNO/SOH modifications predominantly at the ER and associated ribosomes (assigned cytoplasmic location), as well as the apparent lack of significant oxidation in mitochondria and nuclei, suggests that, at least at the physiological doses of APAP used here, the source of the APAP-induced reactive species is located in or close to the ER.
In the mouse liver, APAP-induced mild oxidative stress results in the build-up of Nrf2 and its translocation into the nucleus, where it functions as a transcription factor.48 Once activated, Nrf2 has been shown to protect against APAP-induced hepatotoxicity43,49,50 and induce the production of Mrp3 and Mrp4 transporters, which may expel potentially toxic chemicals51 and initiate cell regeneration.44
One of the targets of Nrf2, the heterodimer glutamate cysteine ligase (composed of an enzymatic (GCLC) and a regulatory subunit (GCLM)) catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in the production of GSH.49 Abundance of both of these enzymes was slightly increased (GCLC 1.31 and GCLM 1.15-fold). GSH synthase (GSS) catalyzing the second step was increased by 1.19-fold. Thus these changes in abundance may be the result of the protective Nrf2 transcription.50,52
Another enzyme HAGH that catalyzes the hydrolysis of S-D-lactoylglutathione to form GSH and D-lactic acid was also increased by 1.36-fold. Increases in GSH levels have been seen from 8 to 48 hours after acute APAP treatment in mice.53 Despite the increases in protein amounts, none of these GSH synthesis pathway proteins changed their SNO or SOH modification levels, suggesting that their regulation by oxidative stress occurred by Nrf2 regulating their synthesis.
The reactive APAP metabolite NAPQI can bind to the cysteine thiol of GSH. This critical mechanism of detoxification is mediated at least in part by phase-two metabolic enzymes of the glutathione S-transferase family4 and can lead to GSH depletion. The abundances of three glutathione S-transferases, GSTT1, GSTK1, GSTM3, and the related GGH were increased (1.53, 1.20, 1.49 and 1.32 fold respectively). While these changes appear to be modest, previous proteomic studies have shown that changes like these are typical and that they can produce significant alterations in cellular structure and activity.30 In a previous study comparing growth in 2D or 3D culture, we had observed that the protein levels of three other glutathione S-transferases were also modulated: the microsomal MGST1 was reduced by 2.4-fold while the cytosolic GSTK1 and GSTO1 were increased by 1.3 and 2.8-fold respectively, illustrating that the absolute levels of these enzymes are also culture specific.30
Wu et al. have demonstrated that Nrf2 can regulate NADPH generation and consumption,54 thus providing the link to regulation of the pentose phosphate pathway. There was an increase in enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway. The abundances of most of its enzymes, G6PD, H6PD, PGD, TALDO1, and PGLS, were increased (1.82, 1.28, 1.26, 1.21 and 1.21-fold change respectively). The only exception was RPIA (which was reduced by −1.52-fold). G6PD is the key rate limiting enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway and was the protein showing the highest increase in abundance. G6PD has not previously been reported as S-nitrosylated. Its cysteine C232 was found to be the third most S-nitrosylated site, although its relative occupancy did not change significantly between the control and APAP treatment. This might indicate that for this protein, feedback activation occurs via protein synthesis and not by modification. Evidence supporting the importance of the pentose phosphate pathway can also be found in TALDO1−/− mice developed by inactivation of the Taldo1 genomic locus.55 These are very sensitive to APAP treatment and exhibit a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, reduced ATP/ADP ratio, and reduced β-catenin phosphorylation and spontaneously develop hepatocellular carcinomas. All of these features can be reversed by a lifelong treatment with N-acetylcysteine.56
Processes that require reducing power, e.g. NADPH and/or ATP, were also affected by mild APAP treatment. Changes in the SNO/SOH levels in proteins of the fatty acid synthesis/metabolism were pronounced following APAP treatment. FASN (the multi-enzyme protein that catalyses fatty acid synthesis) and FDFT1 (squalene synthase in the cholesterol synthetic pathway), both requiring NADPH for enzymatic activity, were differentially SNO/SOH modified under APAP treatment (5.6 and −1.8 average fold change). Similarly, two ATP driven long-chain-fatty-acid–CoA ligases (ACSL3 and 4, which convert free long-chain fatty acids into fatty acyl-CoA esters, and play a key role in lipid synthesis and fatty acid degradation) showed increased SOH modification after APAP treatment (2.5 and 1.5-fold). While the effect on enzyme kinetics cannot be deduced from these studies, it has been shown by several other groups that mitochondrial β-oxidation of fatty acids is impaired during APAP toxicity53 and our results would support this. Administration of carnitine, the carrier of fatty acids, into mitochondria provided protection from APAP toxicity, suggesting a link between fatty acid oxidation and APAP toxicity.57
Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling has been shown to be crucial in regulating the establishment of hepatic metabolic zonation58 as well as hepatoprotection and liver regeneration after drug-induced liver injury.59,60 PTMs, like phosphorylation and ubiquitination, have been shown to play an important role in regulating this pathway.61 In general, an APAP-induced increase in SNO/SOH was observed in all detected Wnt/β-catenin pathway-related proteins, with the exception of SKP1 and FBXO2, where levels decrease.
The major targets affected by SNO/SOH were the components of the SCF (Skp1/Cul1/F-box) ubiquitin ligase complex (SKP1, FBOX2, CAND and CACYBP). The SCF complex is a multicomponent E3 ubiquitin ligase, responsible for polyubiquitination and targeting of proteins for proteasomal degradation. While SNO/SOH modification of the SCF complex has not been described before, other E3 ubiquitin ligases have been shown to be inhibited by SNO modification.62
Both β-catenin and WDR61 exhibit an unchanged abundance but an increased SOH modification upon APAP treatment. WDR61 is a component of the PAF1 complex, which is responsible for the activation of transcription of Wnt genes by RNA polymerase II. The exact role of SNO modification of WDR61 is yet to be verified. Of importance might be the newly established link between Wnt signalling and the Nrf2/ARE oxidative stress response.63 A reduction in the binding of Nrf2 to β-catenin or a reduction in Nrf2 ubiquitination (and hence a reduction in its proteolytic degradation) could lead to its translocation into the nucleus and activation of G6PD and NQO2.
Corroborating this inactivation of β-catenin, we detected several other β-catenin responsive proteins in reduced abundance e.g. glutamine synthetase (GLUL) and MAPK3 (−2.9 and −1.2-fold).
Wnt signalling reduced the abundance of several proteins related to protein synthesis (including six eukaryotic translation initiation factors) by a factor of about 1.25. EIF3B was the only initiation factor where the degree of SOH modification was increased (1.5-fold).
The observed reduction in protein synthesis was mirrored by a reduction in all of the detected proteins associated with nucleolar ribosome assembly (RPS3, NOB1, TSR1, BRIX1 and DRG1 on average by 1.35-fold) and the reduced abundance of the ribosomal proteins (by 1.25 fold) noted above.
Given the low abundance of the SNO and SOH modifications in the cell and their transient nature, we hypothesise that SNO/SOH modifications of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway could represent a novel intracrine signalling mechanism. This mechanism could account for the Wnt/β-catenin-driven induction of the cytochromes CYP2E1 and CYP1A2 seen in mice64 and primary human hepatocytes65 and for the induction of liver regeneration seen in mice44,59 and thus provide evidence for a further protective strategy against APAP-induced acute liver injury (AILI).
From these studies it appears that the strategic response of the cell to APAP-induced generation of reactive species (in or close to the ER) is the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin and Nrf2 signalling pathways and the disruption of fatty acid metabolism. These signalling pathways coordinate the maintenance of GSH and NADPH levels by diverting energy resources from ribosome assembly and protein synthesis to the pentose phosphate pathway as an effective measure to restore homeostasis. Altogether, our results help unify various observations on the effects of APAP treatment in vitro and in vivo.
Footnotes |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Supplementary data in the form of a pdf file and an Excel table are available free of charge at the publisher's site. ‘Supplementary Figures.pdf’ contains additional figures and detailed figure descriptions. Supplementary Table S1.xlsx contains 5 tables presenting detailed protein expression data. Table A – ‘Protein expression’ contains a list of all proteins identified/quantified in label-free proteomics experiments; Table B – ‘IPA analysis’ contains the results of the pathway analysis of differentially regulated proteins under APAP treatment; Table C – ‘SNO/SOH proteome’ contains the list of all unique, iodoTMT-containing peptides quantified in min. 2 biological replicates. Table D – ‘RedoxDB + dbSNO’ is a summary of the comparative analysis of all identified SNO/SOH proteins and sites with information deposited in publicly available repositories of cysteine modifications – RedoxDB and dbSNO. Table E – ‘Table 1_extended’ is an extended version of Table 1 from the main manuscript. See DOI: 10.1039/c5tx00469a |
‡ Present address: Cancer Institute, University College London, Paul O'Gorman Building, 72 Huntley Street, London, WC1E6DD, UK. |
§ These authors contributed equally to this work. |
¶ Present address: Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK. |
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