Classical Galactosemia: Insight into Molecular Pathomechanisms by Differential Membrane Proteomics of Fibroblasts under Galactose Stress

Classical galactosemia, a hereditary metabolic disease caused by the deficiency of galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT; EC 2.7.712), results in an impaired galactose metabolism and serious long-term developmental affection of the CNS and ovaries, potentially related in part to endogenous galactose-induced protein dysglycosylation. In search for galactose-induced changes in membrane raft proteomes of GALT-deficient cells, we performed differential analyses of lipid rafts from patient-derived (Q) and sex- and age-matched control fibroblasts (H) in the presence or absence of the stressor. Label-based proteomics revealed of the total 454 (female) or 678 (male) proteins a proportion of ∼12% in at least one of four relevant ratios as fold-changed. GALT(-) cell-specific effects in the absence of stressor revealed cell-model-dependent affection of biological processes related to protein targeting to the plasma membrane (female) or to cellular migration (male). However, a series of common galactose-induced effects were observed, among them the strongly increased ER-stress marker GRP78 and calreticulin involved in N-glycoprotein quality control. The membrane-anchored N-glycoprotein receptor CD109 was concertedly decreased under galactose-stress together with cadherin-13, GLIPR1, glypican-1, and semaphorin-7A. A series of proteins showed opposite fold-changes in the two cell models, whereas others fluctuated in only one of the two models.