Max Costa and colleagues in the USA have investigated how metal exposure causes cancer by looking at how genes in cells change their function over time after metal exposure. The team exposed human lung cells to arsenic, chromium, nickel and vanadium and found that exposure to all resulted in a change in gene expression that persists even after the metal exposure ends. They found a metal-specific footprint in the cancer-related gene, demonstrated how cancer can arise through different and complex gene expression changes and provided insight into cancer causes.
Gene Expression Changes in Human Lung Cells Exposed to Arsenic, Chromium, Nickel or Vanadium Indicate the First Steps in Cancer
Hailey Ann Clancy, Hong Sun, Lisa Passantino, Thomas Peter Kluz, Alexandra B Munoz, Jiri Zavadil and Max Costa
Metallomics, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2MT20074K
