Toxicity of dimethylmonothioarsinic acid toward human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells

Chronic ingestion of arsenic-contaminated drinking water induces skin lesions and urinary bladder cancer in humans. It is now recognized that thioarsenicals such as dimethylmonothioarsinic acid (DMMTA(V)) are commonly excreted in the urine of humans and animals and that the production of DMMTA(V) may be a risk factor for the development of the diseases caused by arsenic. The toxicity of DMMTA(V) was compared with that of related nonthiolated arsenicals with respect to cell viability, uptake ability, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and cell cycle progression of human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells, arsenate (iAs(V)), arsenite (iAs(III)), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA(V)), and dimethylarsinous acid (DMA(III)) being used as reference nonthiolated arsenicals. DMMTA(V) (LC 50 = 10.7 M) was shown to be much more cytotoxic than iAs (V) (LC 50 = 571 mu M) and DMA(V) (LC50 = 843 M), and its potency was shown to be close to that of trivalent arsenicals iAs (III) (LC50 = 5.49 mu M) and DMA(III) (LC50 = 2.16 mu M). The greater cytotoxicity of DMMTA(V) was associated with greater cellular uptake and distribution, and the level of intracellular ROS remarkably increased in A431 cells upon exposure to DMMTA(V) compared to that after exposure to other trivalent arsenicals at the respective LC50. Exposure of DMMTA(V) to cells for 24 h induced cell cycle perturbation. Namely, the percentage of cells residing in S and G2/M phases increased from 10.2 and 15.6% to 46.5 and 20.8%, respectively. These results suggest that although DMMTA(V) is a pentavalent arsenical, it is taken up efficiently by cells and causes various levels of toxicity, in a manner different from that of nonthiolated pentavalent arsenicals, demonstrating that DMMTA(V) is one of the most toxic arsenic metabolites. The high cytotoxicity of DMMTA(V) was explained and/or proposed by (1) efficient uptake by cells followed by (2) its transformation to DMA(V), (3) producing ROS in the redox equilibrium between DMA(V) and DMA(III) in the presence of glutathione.