Proteomics identifies differentially expressed proteins in glioblastoma U87 cells treated with hederagenin

OBJECTIVE: We investigated differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in human glioblastoma U87 cells after treatment with hederagenin as a therapeutic screening mechanism and provided a theoretical basis for hederagenin in treating glioblastoma. METHODS: The Cell Counting Kit 8 assay was used to analyze the inhibitory effect of hederagenin on the proliferation of U87 cells. Protein was identified by tandem mass tags and LC-MS/MS analysis techniques. Annotation of DEPs, Gene Ontology enrichment and function, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways and domains were all examined by bioinformatics. According to the TMT results, hub protein was selected from DEPs for WB verification. RESULTS: Protein quantitative analysis found 6522 proteins in total. Compared with the control group, 43 DEPs (P < 0.05) were involved in the highly enriched signaling pathway in the hederagenin group, among which 20 proteins were upregulated, and 23 proteins were downregulated. These different proteins are mainly involved in the longness regulating pathway–WORM, the hedgehog signaling pathway, Staphylococcus aureus infection, complement, coagulation cascades, and mineral absorption. KIF7 and ATAD2B expression were significantly down-regulated and PHEX and TIMM9 expression were significantly upregulated, according to WB analysis, supporting the TMT findings. CONCLUSION: Hederagenin inhibition of GBM U87 cells may be related to KIF7, which is mainly involved in the hedgehog signaling pathway. Our findings lay a foundation for additional study of the therapeutic mechanism of hederagenin. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12953-023-00208-7.