Introduction: Night shift work is associated with several adverse health effects. Untargeted proteomics
can help elucidate underlying biological mechanisms by analyzing protein expression
and pathway alterations.
Methods: Within the EU Exposome Project for Health and Occupational Research (EPHOR), we recruited
300 night and day shift workers in Spain, Sweden, and Denmark. Plasma samples were
prepared with PreOmics® iST-BCT and analyzed using the EvoSEPZenoTOF platform, employing
100SPD method with 11-minute gradient in data-independent mode. Preprocessing was
performed using Spectronaut (v19) under default settings. Potential confounders assessed
in the analyses include age, sex, medication use, smoking status, and study center.
Results: Preliminary data include 107 permanent night shift workers, 67 rotating night shift
workers, and 126 permanent day workers with ages of 44.71 (± 11.26), 37.33 (± 10.48),
and 46.36 (± 11.15) years, respectively. Participants worked in the health care sector
and consisted of 30 men and 270 women with 153 never smokers, 94 former smokers, and
51 smokers. For 75% of samples we identified a minimum of 2,472 peptides (range: 914–4,147)
mapping to 407 proteins (range: 176- 608). Ongoing analyses include differential expression
across shift groups, followed by gene enrichment and pathway and network analysis.
In addition, night shift intensity, frequency, and total duration working night shifts
will be investigated.
Conclusion: This large-scale proteomic assessment in night shift workers will provide unique
insights in biological mechanisms, short-term and long-term health effects of night
shift work. Support: EPHOR is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement 874703. Parts of the data processing
were performed in collaboration with EXIMIOUS, funded by European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 874707.
