Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
Volume 136, Issue -, Pages 462-469Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.09.040
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Funding
- NIH [R01ES020506, P42ES010349, R01CA102484, R01CA107431]
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Background: Inorganic arsenic is a carcinogen whose mode of action may involve telomere dysfunction. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that chronic arsenic exposure is associated with longer telomeres and altered expression of telomere-related genes in peripheral blood. In this study, we evaluated the association of urinary arsenic concentration with expression of telomere-related genes and telomere length in Bangladeshi individuals with a wide range of arsenic exposure through naturally contaminated drinking water. Methods: We used linear regression models to estimate associations between urinary arsenic and array-based expression measures for 69 telomere related genes using mononuclear cell RNA samples from 1799 individuals. Association between arsenic exposure and a qPCR-based telomere length measure was assessed among 167 individuals. Results: Urinary arsenic was possitively associated with expression of WRN, and negatively associated with TERF2, DKC1, TERF2IP and OBFC1 (all P < 0.00035, Bonferroni-corrected threshold). We detected interaction between urinary arsenic and arsenic metabolism efficiency in relation to expression of WRN (P for interaction =0.00008). In addition, we observed that very high arsenic exposure was associated with longer telomeres compared to very low exposure (P=0.02). Discussion: Our findings suggest that arsenic's carcinogenic mode of action may involve alteration of telomere maintenance and/or telomere damage. This study extends our knowledge regarding the effect of arsenic on telomere length and expression of telomere-related genes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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