Proteomic Analysis Reveals that Proteasome Subunit Beta 6 Is Involved in Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling in Rats

Jian Wang, Lei Xu, Xin Yun, Kai Yang, Dongjiang Liao, Lichun Tian, Haiyang Jiang, Wenju Lu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background:Chronic hypoxia (CH) is known to be one of the major causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH), which is characterized by sustained elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance resulting from vascular remodeling. In this study, we investigated whether the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) was involved in the mechanism of hypoxia-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling. We isolated the distal pulmonary artery (PA) from a previously defined chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (CHPH) rat model, performed proteomic analyses in search of differentially expressed proteins belonging to the UPS, and subsequently identified their roles in arterial remodeling.Results:Twenty-two proteins were differently expressed between the CH and normoxic group. Among them, the expression of proteasome subunit beta (PSMB) 1 and PSMB6 increased after CH exposure. Given that PSMB1 is a well-known structural subunit and PSMB6 is a functional subunit, we sought to assess whether PSMB6 could be related to the multiple functional changes during the CHPH process. We confirmed the proteomic results by real-time PCR and Western blot. With the increase in quantity of the active subunit, proteasome activity in both cultured pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and isolated PA from the hypoxic group increased. An MTT assay revealed that the proteasome inhibitor MG132 was able to attenuate the hypoxia-induced proliferation of PASMC in a dose-dependent manner. Knockdown of PSMB6 using siRNA also prevented hypoxia-induced proliferation.Conclusion:The present study revealed the association between increased PSMB6 and CHPH. CH up-regulated proteasome activity and the proliferation of PASMCs, which may have been related to increased PSMB6 expression and the subsequently enhanced functional catalytic sites of the proteasome. These results suggested an essential role of the proteasome during CHPH development, a novel finding requiring further study.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere67942
JournalPloS one
Volume8
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 3 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Proteomic Analysis Reveals that Proteasome Subunit Beta 6 Is Involved in Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling in Rats'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this