Yongfang Li, Jiao Liu, Dianqi Yao, Zijun Guo, Xuheng Jiang, Chengwen Zhang, Litong Qu, Yuyan Liu, Yuxin Hu, Lanyue Gao, Yi Wang, Yuanyuan Xu
Chronic arsenic exposure is considered to increase the risk of breast cancer. p62 is a multifunctional adaptor protein that controls myriad cellular processes and is overexpressed in breast cancer tissues. Although previous studies have indicated the involvement of p62 accumulation in arsenic tumorigenesis, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Here, we found that 0.1 µM or 0.5 µM arsenite exposure for 24 weeks induced oncogenic phenotypes in human mammary epithelial cells. Elevated aerobic glycolysis, cell proliferation capacity, and activation of p62-mTOR pathway, as indicated by increased protein levels of p62, phosphorylated-mTOR (p-mTOR) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α), were observed in chronically arsenite-exposed cells, and of note in advance of the onset of oncogenic phenotypes...
March 14, 2024: Archives of Toxicology