Han-Seam Choi, Mee Song, Mi-Kyung Song
Dec 1, 2011
Citations
0
Influential Citations
3
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences
Abstract
Mirex is a bioaccumulative, persistent, and toxic pollutant. It is one of 12 priority persistent organic pollutants identified as requiring global action by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Governing Council. Mirex was first synthesized in the mid-1940s, but did not become commercially available in the USA until 1958. Technical-grade mirex was produced commercially by only one company in the United States until 1967. Mirex is highly accumulative and the amount that is accumulated depends on the concentration and duration of exposure. Once deposited in humans (mainly in adipose tissue), it forms stable compounds that result in a lasting toxic burden. Although the environmental distribution and metabolism of mirex have been well studied, only a few studies have examined the expression and function of mRNAs in mirex-induced toxicity. A new paradigm in toxicity screening, toxicogenomic technology represents a useful approach for evaluating the toxic properties of environmental pollutants. In this study, we used microarray and gene ontology (GO) analysis to identify genes whose expression is induced by mirex in HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. We identified 497 and 207 genes whose expression were ≥1.5-fold up- and down-regulated, respectively, by mirex (P<0.05), and several GO categories linked to hepatotoxicity, including Complement and coagulation cascades, Endocytosis, Lysosome, Tight junction, Viral myocarditis, Chronic myeloid leukemia, Pyrimidine metabolism, and Leukocyte transendothelial migration. The results of the present study suggest that genes expressed by mirex may provide clues to the hepatotoxic mechanism of mirex.