<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide evidence for illustrating the molecular mechanism of nickelcarcinogenesis, and to identify the differential expression of protein in crystalline NiS-induced neoplastic transformation of human bronchial epithelial cell by proteomicstechnology.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and the ImageMaster 3.10 software were used to analyze the differential expression of protein, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) combined with database search was applied to identify proteinperoxiredoxin 2 (PDX2) related to malignant transformation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The good 2-DE pattern including resolution and reproducibility was obtained. Nearly 700 expressed proteins per 2-D gel were isolated with molecular weights (MW) ranging from 14,400 to 94,000 KD and pI 3 - 10. A protein PDX2 with MW 21,890 KD, pI 5.66, which was highly expressed in malignantly transformed cell, was identified using MALDI-TOF-MS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PDX2 was involved in malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cell induced by crystalline nickelsulfide.</p>