Proteomic characterization of the mucosal pellicle formed in vitro on a cellular model of oral epithelium

The oral mucosal pellicle is a thin lubricating layer generated by the binding of saliva proteins on epithelial oral cells. The protein composition of this biological structure has been to date studied by targeted analyses of specific salivary proteins. In order to perform a more exhaustive proteome characterization of pellicles, we used TR146 cells expressing or not the transmembrane mucin MUC1 and generated pellicles by incubation with human saliva and washing to remove unbound proteins. A suitable method was established for the in vitro isolation of the mucosal pellicle by “shaving” it from the cells using trypsin. The extracts, the washing solutions and the saliva used to constitute the pellicles were analyzed by LC MS/MS (data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD017268). Comparison of pellicle and saliva compositions evidenced the adsorption of proteins not previously reported as pellicle constituents such as proteins of the PLUNC family. Pellicles formed on TR146 and TR146/MUC1 were also analyzed and compared by protein label-free quantification. The two types of samples appeared as distinct clusters in multivariate analyses, but the discriminant proteins (Welch test p < .05, FDR < 0.1) were cellular rather than salivary proteins. Significance: The oral mucosal pellicle is made of salivary proteins tightly bound to oral epithelial cells. It is essential to oral health, with biological functions depending largely on its protein constituents. Characterizing its proteome is difficult due to the intimate association of this protein layer to cell membranes. In this work, we report a trypsin “shaving” protocol which enabled to sample the pellicle formed on an in vitro cellular model of oral epithelium. Analyzing such samples by high-resolution mass spectrometry provided novel information on the mucosal pellicle composition. This work is therefore a good starting point for further characterization of this biological structure.