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Cytotoxicity and Cell Cycle Perturbation of Arsenic and Mercury Exposure on MCF‐7 cells
Author(s) -
Malik Fatiha Laila,
AbouZeid Nadia,
Ishaque Ali B
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.lb150
Subject(s) - cytotoxicity , mcf 7 , chemistry , cell cycle , arsenic , mercury (programming language) , programmed cell death , toxicity , apoptosis , breast cancer , toxicology , cancer cell , andrology , medicine , human breast , biochemistry , biology , cancer , in vitro , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women in the United States. There are several factors that are known to contribute to the onset of this disease. We hypothesize that environmental exposure to heavy metals, such as mercury and arsenic, is a contributing factor. In this study, the cytotoxicity of As and Hg was studied in exponentially growing and asynchronous MCF‐7 human breast cancer cells. Cytoxicity was determined with real time cell electronic sensing (Rt‐CES). LC50 of each metal and the combination of metals was determined after 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours. The results show that the LC50 of As decreased tenfold from 24 hours through 96 hours of exposure: 1.8 x10‐3 to 1.8 x10‐4 mg/ml. The LC50 for Hg exposure showed a relatively slighter change: 7.2x10‐2 to 4.5 x10‐2 mg/ml. The LC50 for the mixture decreased from 3.3 x10‐4 mg/ml after 24 hours exposure to 3.0x10‐5mg/ml after 96 hours. Cell cycle analysis revealed significant differences in the percentage of cells in S and G2 phases in all samples, while the percentage of cells in G1 phase did not show any significant difference. As and Hg, individually and in combination, cause marked perturbation of the cell cycle kinetics of MCF‐7 human breast cancer cells by arresting the transit of cells at S phase. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms leading to the observed perturbations. Supported by NIH R25GM063775.