Arsenic, a human carcinogen, is genotoxic, although its mechanism(s) of action for tumorigenesis is not well understood. Among the toxicity-related properties of this chemical are its clastogenic and aneugenic activities, as well as its capacity for inducing stress-response in the form of elevated heat shock protein (HSP) expression. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of Hsp70 expression on arsenite (As)-induced structural and numerical chromosome anomalies in human cells. Human MCF-7 Tet-off cells stably transfected with a pTRE/Hsp70-1 transgene construct were used to regulate Hsp70 levels prior to in vitro As exposures. Separate cultures of relatively high vs. low Hsp70-expressing cells were established. A cytokinesis block micronucleus assay with kinetochore immunostaining was used to detect micronuclei (MN) derived from chromosome breakage (K-MN) or loss (K+MN). These studies demonstrated significant increases in micronucleus frequencies in response to As following either a long exposure (5 or 10 microM for 46 hr), or short exposure (10 or 40 microM for 8 hr) protocol. Overall, the long protocol was more efficient in producing K+MN and cells with multiple MN. Overexpressing Hsp70 resulted in significant reductions in the percent of cells positive for MN for both the long and short As exposure protocols. Both K+ and K- types of As-induced MN were lower in cells with elevated Hsp70 as compared to cells without overexpression of Hsp70. We conclude that the dose and duration of As exposure influence the type as well as amount of chromosomal alteration produced and that inducible Hsp70 protects against both the clastogenic and aneugenic effects of this chemical.
Published 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.