Mucus secretions from a conditionally reprogrammed primary endocervical cell culture.

OBJECTIVE:To determine if the secretions collected from a conditionally reprogrammed primary endocervical cell culture are suitable surrogates for mucus studies. DESIGN:Experimental. SETTING:University research center. ANIMAL(S):Female rhesus macaque (n = 2). INTERVENTION(S):None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):Quantitative proteomic analysis using tandem mass tag mass spectrometry liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. RESULT(S):We identified 3,047 proteins, common proteins present in both primary endocervical cell cultures and the mucus of rhesus macaques. We found a 71% overlap in the top 500 most prevalent proteins in the samples. Cell culture secretions contained many essential mucus proteins, including MUC5B, the primary mucin of the endocervix. CONCLUSION(S):Similarities in secreted proteins suggest that conditionally reprogrammed primary endocervical cells could be used to study mucus secretion in vitro.