Toxicoproteomics in the study of aromatic hydrocarbon toxicity

The aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs), which include benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and dioxin, are important chemical and environmental contaminants in industry that usually cause various diseases. Over the years, numerous studies have described and evaluated the adverse health effects induced by AHs. Currently, "Omics" technologies, transcriptomics and proteomics, have been applied in AH toxicity studies. Proteomics has been used to identify molecular mechanisms and biomarkers associated with global chemical toxicity. It could enhance our ability to characterize chemical-induced toxicities and to identify noninvasive biomarkers. The proteomic approach (e.g. 2-dimensional electrophoresis [2-DE]), can be used to observe changes in protein expression during chemical exposure with high sensitivity and specificity. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and electrospray ionization-quadrupole (ESI-Q)-TOF MS/MS are recognized as the most important protein identification tools. This review describes proteomic technologies and their application in the proteomic analysis of AH toxicity.