Epigenetic changes in individuals with arsenicosis.

Chem Res Toxicol. 2011 Feb 18;24(2):165-7. Epub 2011 Feb 4.
Smeester L, Rager JE, Bailey KA, Guan X, Smith N, García-Vargas G, Del Razo LM, Drobná Z, Kelkar H, Stíyblo M, Fry RC.
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.
Abstract: Inorganic arsenic (iAs) is an environmental toxicant currently poisoning millions of people worldwide, and chronically exposed individuals are susceptible to arsenicosis or arsenic poisoning. Using a state-of-the-art technique to map the methylomes of our study subjects, we identified a large interactome of hypermethylated genes that are enriched for their involvement in arsenic-associated diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Notably, we have uncovered an arsenic-induced tumor suppressorome, a complex of 17 tumor suppressors known to be silenced in human cancers. This finding represents a pivotal clue in unraveling a possible epigenetic mode of arsenic-induced disease.