Vitamin E has been suggested to modulate age-associated changes by altering the redox balance resulting in altered gene and/or protein expression. Here we have utilized proteomics to determine whether such regulation in protein expression occurs in human lymphocytes from two different age groups stressed with H₂O₂ and then treated with vitamin E in the form of tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF). In this study, lymphocytes obtained from young (30-49 years old) and old (>50 years old) volunteers were first challenged with 1 mM H₂O₂. They were then treated by exposure to 50, 100 and 200 μg/ml TRF. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF/TOF (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight) tandem mass spectrometry was then performed on whole-cell protein extracts to identify proteins that have changed in expression. A total of 24 proteins were found to be affected by H₂O₂ and/or TRF treatment. These included proteins that were related to metabolism, antioxidants, structural proteins, protein degradation and signal transduction. Of particular interest was the regulation of a number of proteins involved in stress response–peroxiredoxin-2, peroxiredoxin-3 and peroxiredoxin-6-all of which were shown to be down-regulated with H₂O₂ exposure. The effect was reversed following TRF treatment. The expression of peroxiredoxin-2 and peroxiredoxin-6 was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. These results suggested that TRF directly influenced the expression dynamics of the peroxiredoxin-2, thus improving the cells ability to resist damage caused by oxidative stress.
