Original article. Expression profile of human neuroblastoma cells after exposure to Naegleria fowleri

Background: Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeboflagellate, is the causative agent of life threatening primary amoebic meningoencephalitis with up to a 98% mortality rate. The pathogenesis involves neuronal dysfunction and damages the host central nervous system. Understanding the interactions of the target cells and the protozoa may facilitate an integrated approach to address important biological questions.

Objective: We investigated changes in protein expression of the host cells post Naegleria fowleri infection.

Methods: The analysis was based on two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) of the proteins extracted from human neuroblastoma SK-N-MC after exposure to N. fowleri trophozoites over a period of six hours. We observed differences in protein expression as early as 15 minutes after the exposure, and the differences remained throughout the six hours study.

Results: The identified protein spots corresponded to 53 proteins unique to human and 24 of these proteins were identified as involved in signal transduction, translation, immune response, cytoskeleton, and stress response. We also observed changes in the abundance of these proteins after cocultivating SK-N-MC with N. fowleri, especially those involved in angiogenesis, fatty acid metabolism, signal transduction, translation, stress response, signal pathway, and respiration.

Conclusions: The proteomics analysis from this report suggested how and by which means the SK-N-MC responded after N. fowleri infection.