Integrin α4 up-regulation activates the hedgehog pathway to promote arsenic and benzo[α]pyrene co-exposure-induced cancer stem cell-like property and tumorigenesis.

ABSTRACT: Arsenic and benzo[α]pyrene (BaP) are widespread carcinogens and important etiology factors for lung cancer. Moreover, arsenic and BaP co-exposure displays a significantly stronger effect in inducing lung cancer than arsenic or BaP exposure alone. This study was performed to investigate the basic mechanism of the synergistic carcinogenic effect of arsenic and BaP co-exposure. It was found that integrin α4 (ITGA4) expression levels are significantly up-regulated and the Hedgehog pathway is highly activated in arsenic plus BaP co-exposure-transformed human bronchial epithelial cells. Either ITGA4 downregulation or Hedgehog pathway inhibition in the co-exposure-transformed cells significantly reduced their cancer stem cell (CSC)-like property and tumorigenicity. It was determined that ITGA4 do

SUBMITTER: Xie J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9083130 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature