Changes in protein expression in HeLa cervical cancer cells induced by [Pd(dach)Cl2] complex

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Vanja Ralić, Katarina Davalieva, Branislava Gemović, Milan Senćanski, Maja D. Nešić, Iva A. Popović, Jelena Žakula, Milutin Stepić and Marijana Petković

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DOI:  10.46793/ICCBIKG25.061R

САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:

In this work, we have investigated the changes in protein expression in HeLa cervical cancer cells treated with [Pd(dach)Cl₂]. This Pd(II) complex showed a mild cytotoxic effect on HeLa cells, enabling us to study quantitatively changes in the protein expression between control and treated cells. The comparative proteomics analysis is performed using label-free data-independent liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In addition to this, we employed a computational biology approach and the informational spectrum method (ISM) to predict potential protein interactors of the [Pd(dach)Cl₂] complex in HeLa cells. Our results show 121 differentially abundant proteins between control and [Pd(dach)Cl₂]-treated cells, and we showed that [Pd(dach)Cl₂] targets proteins involved in ribosomal biogenesis and RNA splicing. On the other hand, theoretical prediction implies the potential effect of [Pd(dach)Cl₂] on p53 (oncogenic protein) signalling pathway, and thus, alterations of the expression of regulatory proteins involved in cell survival and proliferation. Since this is a proof-of- concept study, the sample size was not adequate to perform multiple testing correction. However, the findings are in line with the existing literature on HeLa cells’ protein and mRNA expression. Moreover, the observed down-regulation of several proteins highly correlated with tumour development and progression was consistent with the observed cytotoxic effect of [Pd(dach)Cl₂] treatment. Although this confirms the validity of the reported results, further validation in the context of a statistically well-powered study is required.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:

Pd(II) complex, HeLa cervical cancer cells, proteomics, bioinformatics, spliceosome, ribosome

ПРОЈЕКАТ / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

This work was funded by the Serbian Ministry of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation (451-03-136/2025-03/ 200017), and by the WBF (MO-1-041 and MO-5-084).

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