Proteomics analysis of chronic skin injuries caused by mustard gas

Abstract

Sulfur mustard (SM) is an alkylating and forming chemical that was widely used by Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq wars. One of the target organs of SM is the skin. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of SM may help better identify complications and find appropriate treatments. The current study collected ten SM-exposed patients with long-term skin complications and ten healthy individuals. Proteomics experiments were performed using the high-efficiency TMT10X method to evaluate the skin protein profile, and statistical bioinformatics methods were used to identify the differentially expressed proteins. One hundred twenty-nine proteins had different expressions between the two groups. Of these 129 proteins, 94 proteins had increased expression in veterans' skins, while the remaining 35 had decreased expression. The hub genes included RPS15, ACTN1, FLNA, HP, SDHC, and RPL29, and three modules were extracted from the PPI network analysis. Skin SM exposure can lead to oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and cell proliferation.

Keywords: Chemical agents; Chemical injuries; Mustard gas; Proteomics analysis; Systems biology.

Fig. 1

Density plot (left panel) and Box plots (right panel) of post-normalized data showing variability in the TMT-MS data skin

Fig. 2

Top 10 GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the significant abundance protein’s skin

Fig. 3

PPI networks of proteins and module analysis. (a); three parts of PPI network encompassed by t three modules filtered by app MCODE plugin in Cytoscape tool which were extracted from the PPI network (b, c, d)