RTP801 is a newly discovered stress-response gene that is induced by hypoxia and other cell stress signals. Arsenic is a heavy metal that is linked to carcinogenesis in humans. Here, we investigated the mechanism by which arsenic induces RTP801 transcription. In HaCaT human keratinocytes, arsenite was able to induce a rapid rise in the RTP801 mRNA level. Correspondingly, arsenite treatment was ...

The inhibitory effect of caveolin on the cellular response to growth factor stimulation is well established. Given the significant overlap in signaling pathways involved in regulating cell proliferation and stress responsiveness, we hypothesized that caveolin would also affect a cell's ability to respond to environmental stress. Here we investigated the ability of caveolin-1 to modulate the cel...

Heme oxygenase-1 is an inducible enzyme that catalyzes heme degradation and has been proposed to play a role in protecting cells against oxidative stress-related injury. We investigated the induction of heme oxygenase-1 by the tumor promoter arsenite in a chicken hepatoma cell line, LMH. We identified a heme oxygenase-1 promoter-driven luciferase reporter construct that was highly and reproduci...

Arsenic is a widespread environmental contaminant. However, the exact molecular mechanisms underlying the carcinogenic effects of arsenic remain incompletely understood. Core histones can be ubiquitinated by RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligases, among which the RNF20-RNF40 heterodimer catalyzes the ubiquitination of histone H2B at lysine 120. This ubiquitination event is important for the formation...

Steady exposure to environmental arsenic has led to the evolution of vital cellular detoxification mechanisms. Under aerobic conditions, a two-step process appears most common among microorganisms involving reduction of predominant, oxidized arsenate (H(2)As(V)O(4)(-)/HAs(V)O(4)(2-)) to arsenite (As(III)(OH)(3)) by a cytosolic enzyme (ArsC; Escherichia coli type arsenate reductase) and subseque...

OBJECTIVE(S) Arsenic compounds are potent human carcinogen and produce a variety of stress responses in mammalian cells. Recently sodium arsenite has been recommended to be used as anti malignancy drug by American food and drug administration (FDA). In this study, we aimed to determine the apoptosis inducing effect of sodium arsenite on rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells exposed in vitro. ...

Chronic exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water can lead to a variety of serious pathological outcomes. However, differential responsiveness within human populations suggests that interindividual genetic variation plays an important role. We are using Drosophila to study toxic metal response pathways because of unrivalled access to varied genetic approaches and significant demonstrable ...

This study investigated arsenate and arsenite adsorption on an iron(III) oxide/silica adsorbent that had a Fe/Si molar ratio of 3. Batch experiments were conducted with regard to adsorption kinetics, isotherms, pH effects and interference of phosphate and sulfate on arsenic adsorption. The adsorption of arsenite was faster than that of arsenate. The adsorption kinetics could be well described b...

OBJECTIVE Although arsenite is toxic it is currently recommended for the treatment of malignancies. In this study the effects of sub-micromolar concentrations of sodium arsenite on the viability, morphology and mechanism of cell death of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMCs) over 21 days was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experimental study, BMCs were extracted in Dulbecc...