Differential protein expression between EBV-positive and negative epithelial cells

Epstein Barr virus infection is believed to play a role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In order to investigate the function of EBV in epithelial cell, proteomic methods were used to find and identify the differential proteins and expected to elucidate the mechanism of EBV. Altered protein expressions were found between 293 cell (HEK293) and EBV infected cell (293-EBV). In this study, we separated differential expressed proteins using 2D-DIGE method while matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) method was used to identify proteins. The results showed that 14 proteins were up regulated and 3 proteins were down regulated in 293-EBV cells. Bioinformatic analysis showed that these proteins are involved in cell proliferation, metastasis, apoptosis, metabolism, and signal transduction. Western blotting analysis was further carried out to verify the MS results. Thus, EBV may exert its functions by mediating differential expression of these proteins.