Skip Navigation

Publication Detail

Title: Arsenite maintains germinative state in cultured human epidermal cells.

Authors: Patterson, Timothy J; Reznikova, Tatiana V; Phillips, Marjorie A; Rice, Robert H

Published In Toxicol Appl Pharmacol, (2005 Aug 22)

Abstract: Arsenic is a well-known carcinogen for human skin, but its mechanism of action and proximal macromolecular targets remain to be elucidated. In the present study, low micromolar concentrations of sodium arsenite maintained the proliferative potential of epidermal keratinocytes, decreasing their exit from the germinative compartment under conditions that promote differentiation of untreated cells. This effect was observed in suspension and in post-confluent surface cultures as measured by colony-forming ability and by proportion of rapidly adhering colony-forming cells. Arsenite-treated cultures exhibited elevated levels of beta1-integrin and beta-catenin, two proteins enriched in cells with high proliferative potential. Levels of phosphorylated (inactive) glycogen synthase kinase 3beta were higher in the treated cultures, likely accounting for the increased levels of transcriptionally available beta-catenin. These findings suggest that arsenic could have co-carcinogenic and tumor co-promoting activities in the epidermis as a result of increasing the population and persistence of germinative cells targeted by tumor initiators and promoters. These findings also identify a critical signal transduction pathway meriting further exploration in pursuit of this phenomenon.

PubMed ID: 16054901 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Arsenites/toxicity*; Cell Adhesion/drug effects; Cell Proliferation/drug effects; Cells, Cultured; Epidermis/cytology; Epidermis/drug effects*; Epidermis/metabolism; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3/metabolism; Humans; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Proto-Oncogene Proteins/metabolism; Signal Transduction/drug effects

Back
to Top