The prominent proteins expressed in healthy gingiva: a pilot exploratory tissue proteomics study

Gingiva is a unique tissue which protects the underlying periodontal tissues from consistent mechanical and bacterial aggressions. Molecular analysis of gingiva is likely to improve our understanding of the underlying biological processes at work. The aim of this preliminary exploratory study is to analyze the proteomic profile of healthy gingiva and to detect prominently expressed proteins. Gingival tissue samples were obtained from periodontally healthy individuals who underwent surgical crown lengthening procedure. After protein isolation, two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) gels were prepared for each sample and only protein spots common to all gels were selected to eliminate the bias caused by the effect of individuals on proteomic profile. Following the 2DE; in-gel tryptic digestion and MALDI-TOF/TOF steps were performed for protein identifications. Forty-seven proteins were successfully identified. The identified proteins were classified based on their classes, molecular functions and involvements in biological processes and metabolic pathways. Among them, 14-3-3 protein sigma, Protein DJ-1, Alpha-enolase, Triosephosphate isomerase, Superoxide dismutase, Peroxiredoxin-1, Protein S100-A9, Galectin-7, Annexin A2/A4, Carbonic anhydrase 1 and chaperone proteins are worthy of attention. The proteomic profile of the gingiva reflected its highly dynamic characteristics. Despite complexity of the gingival tissue proteome, 2DE was an effective approach in studying the common protein expression profile of the gingiva. Considering the significance of gingiva in the formation of periodontal diseases, it is important to generate a detailed proteome map of gingival tissue to set up a bridge between molecular events and the disease formation. This study established an initial proteome map of the gingival tissue from healthy individuals.