Inorganic arsenic promotes luminal to basal transition and metastasis of breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: Inorganic arsenic (iAs/As₂ O₃^2- ) is an environmental toxicant found in watersheds around the world including in densely populated areas. iAs is a class I carcinogen known to target the skin, lungs, bladder, and digestive organs, but its role as a primary breast carcinogen remains controversial. Here, we examined a different possibility: that exposure to iAs promotes the transition of well-differentiated epithelial breast cancer cells characterized by estrogen and progesterone receptor expression (ER+/PR+), to more basal phenotypes characterized by active proliferation, and propensity to metastasis in vivo. Our results indicate two clear phenotypic responses to low-level iAs that depend on the duration of the exposure. Short-term pulses of iAs activate ER s

SUBMITTER: Danes JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8289339 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature