A 2-DE-based proteomic study on the toxicological effects of cisplatin in L02 cells

• Cisplatin induced disturbances in primary metabolism and cytoskeleton in L02 cells.
• Cisplatin exposures (1 nM, 1 μM and 1 mM) caused oxidative stress in L02 cells.
• Proteomics didn’t show cisplatin-induced hormetic effects in L02 cells.

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of various cancers. In this study, cisplatin-induced effects were characterized in vitro model of human liver cells (L02) using 2-DE-based proteomics. Results indicated that different cisplatin treatments primarily induced disturbances in protein synthesis and oxidative stress via differential mechanisms. Since the experimental concentrations of cisplatin described a hormesis effect in cell proliferation of L02 cells, it was expected to reveal the hormesis effects using proteomic markers. However, only confilin-1 was commonly up-regulated in three concentrations of cisplatin treatments showing a hormesis effects with a U-shape regulation. These results were highly consistent with many other toxico-proteomic studies, indicating that the toxico-proteomic responses based on dose-dependent protein responses were incongruent with the theoretically linear or hormetic concentration–effect relationship. Our findings suggested that a macroscopic hormesis phenomenon on the cell proliferation could not be reflected by proteomic responses induced by cisplatin treatments.