iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomic analysis of the liver regeneration termination phase after partial hepatectomy in mice

Liver regeneration (LR) is an important biological process after liver injury. As the “brake” in the process of LR, the termination phase of LR not only suppresses the continuous increase in liver volume but also effectively promotes the recovery of liver function. However, the mechanisms underlying the termination phase of LR are still not clear. In our study, we used isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ)-based quantitative proteomic analysis to determine the protein expression profiles of livers in the termination phase of mouse LR after partial hepatectomy (PH). We found that the expression of 197 proteins increased gradually during LR; in addition, 187 proteins were upregulated and 264 proteins were downregulated specifically in the termination phase of LR. The GO analysis of the proteins revealed the upregulation of “cell–cell adhesion” and “translation” and the downregulation of the “oxidation–reduction process”. The KEGG pathway analysis showed that “biosynthesis of antibiotics” and “ribosomes” were significantly upregulated, while “metabolic pathways” were significantly downregulated. These analyses indicated that the termination phase of LR mainly focuses on restoring cellular structure and function. Differentially expressed proteins such as SNX5 were also screened out from biological processes.