BioProject

Rapidly increasing number of man-made chemicals urges the development of reliable time- and cost-effective approaches for the carcinogen detection and identification. More...

Rapidly increasing number of man-made chemicals urges the development of reliable time- and cost-effective approaches for the carcinogen detection and identification. Considering this, the utility of high throughput microarray gene expression profiling for the identification of genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens in vitro was investigated.  Human terminally differentiated hepatic HepaRG cells were treated with model liver carcinogens, genotoxic carcinogen aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and non-genotoxic carcinogen methapyrilene, at IC10 and IC25 concentrations for 72 hours, and transcriptomic profiles were determined. Treatment of HepaRG cells with IC10 and IC25 concentrations of AFB1 resulted in altered expression of 538 and 3033 genes (p-value ≤0.01 and fold change ≥2.0), respectively, and treatment of HepaRG cells with methapyrilene at the IC10 and IC25 concentrations altered the expression of 1255 and 1861 genes, respectively. Pathway analysis of transcriptomic signatures in HepaRG cells treated with minimally cytotoxic IC10 concentrations of AFB1 and methapyrilene demonstrated a strong enrichment in genes involved in key carcinogen-associated pathways, including receptor-mediated effects, detoxification response, cell death and apoptosis, cell proliferation and survival, oxidative stress and inflammation. Importantly, DNA damage and repair, cell cycle progression, and cell cycle checkpoint control pathways were uniquely activated in AFB1-treated HepaRG cells, whereas receptor-mediated signaling detoxification response pathway was predominantly altered in methapyrilene-treated HepaRG cells. In summary, high throughput microarray gene expression approach identifies specific carcinogen-exposure-associated transcriptomic responses and identifies affected molecular pathways, and categorize pathways associated with carcinogen exposure in a short-term in vitro test. Overall design: Twenty-eight days after the initial seeding, the terminally differentiated HepaRG cells were treated with AFB1 at doses 5 µM (IC10) and 25 µM (IC25) and methapyrilene at doses 650 µM (IC10) and 850 µM (IC25). Gene expression profiles in the HepaRG cells treated with AFB1 and methapyrilene for 72 hours were investigated. Less...