Project description:Under REACH, the European Community Regulation on chemicals, the testing strategy for carcinogenicity is generally based on in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity assays. Given that non-genotoxic carcinogens are negative for genotoxicity, this class of carcinogens will not be detected. Therefore, alternative test are urgently needed. Non-genotoxic carcinogens, however, act through different modes of action, which complicates the development of such an assay. The aim of this study was to investigate whether gene expression profiling in primary mouse hepatocytes can be used to distinguish different modes of action of non-genotoxic carcinogens. Primary mouse hepatocytes were exposed to 16 non-genotoxic carcinogens with diverse modes of action. Upon profiling, pathway analysis was performed to obtain insight into the biological relevance of the observed changes in gene expression. To recognize similarities in mode of action at the transcriptomic level, both a supervised and an unsupervised comparison approach was applied.
Project description:Under REACH, the European Community Regulation on chemicals, the testing strategy for carcinogenicity is generally based on in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity assays. Given that non-genotoxic carcinogens are negative for genotoxicity, this class of carcinogens will not be detected. Therefore, alternative test are urgently needed. Non-genotoxic carcinogens, however, act through different modes of action, which complicates the development of such an assay. The aim of this study was to investigate whether gene expression profiling in primary mouse hepatocytes can be used to distinguish different modes of action of non-genotoxic carcinogens.
Project description:The current test strategy for carcinogenicity is generally based on in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity assays. Non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGTXC) are negative for genotoxicity and go undetected. Therefore, alternative tests to detect these chemicals are urgently needed. NGTXC act through different modes of action, which complicates the development of such assays. We have demonstrated recently in primary mouse hepatocytes that some, but certainly not all, NGTXC can be categorized according to their mode of action based on feature detection at a gene expression level (Schaap et al. 2012 (PMID 22710402)). Identification of a wider range of chemicals probably requires multiple in vitro systems. In the current study, we describe the added value of using mouse embryonic stem cells. In this study, the focus is on NGTXC, but we also included genotoxic carcinogens and non-carcinogens. This approach enables us to assess the robustness of this method and to evaluate the system for recognizing features of chemicals in general, which is important for application in future risk assessment. Primary mouse hepatocytes and mouse embryonic stem cells were exposed to 26 chemicals (non-genotoxic carcinogens and non-carcinogens) representing diverse modes of action. Upon profiling, an unsupervised comparison approach was applied to recognize similar features at the transcriptomic level. This Series consists of the gene expression data of the primary mouse hepatocytes. The expression data of the mouse embryonic stem cells is submitted separately under another accession number. In this study we tested 26 chemicals of which 16 non-genotoxic carcinogens, 4 genotoxic carcinogens, 2 genotoxic non-carcinogens and 4 non-carcinogens. Specification of the chemicals can be found in the readme file.
Project description:The current test strategy for carcinogenicity is generally based on in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity assays. Non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGTXC) are negative for genotoxicity and go undetected. Therefore, alternative tests to detect these chemicals are urgently needed. NGTXC act through different modes of action, which complicates the development of such assays. We have demonstrated recently in primary mouse hepatocytes that some, but certainly not all, NGTXC can be categorized according to their mode of action based on feature detection at a gene expression level (Schaap et al. 2012, PMID22710402). Identification of a wider range of chemicals probably requires multiple in vitro systems. In the current study we describe the added value of using mouse embryonic stem cells. In this study the focus is on NGTXC, but we also included genotoxic carcinogens and non-carcinogens. This approach enables us to assess the robustness of this method and to evaluate the system for recognizing features of chemicals in general, which is important for application in future risk assessment. This serie consists of the gene expression data of the mouse embryonic stem cells. The expression data of the primary mouse hepatocytes cells is submitted separately under accession number GSE44088.
Project description:The prediction of possible carcinogenicity of chemicals for humans represents an ongoing challenge. Chronic rodent bioassays predict human cancer risk at only limited reliability while simultaneously being expensive and long-lasting. In order to seek for alternatives, in the present study, the ability of a transcriptomics-based primary mouse hepatocyte model to classify carcinogens by their modes of action was evaluated. As it is obvious that exposure will induce a cascade of gene expression modifications, in particular, the influence of exposure time in vitro on discriminating genotoxic (GTX) carcinogens from non-genotoxic (NGTX) carcinogens class prediction was investigated. Primary mouse hepatocytes from male C57Bl6 mice were treated for 12, 24, 36 and 48 h with two GTX and two NGTX carcinogens. For the purpose of validation, two additional GTX compounds were studied after incubation periods of 24 and 48 h. Immunostaining of ?H2AX foci was applied to phenotypically verify DNA damage. Whole genome gene expression modifications were analyzed by means of Affymetrix mouse genome 430 2.0 microarrays. Datasets were normalized using RMA and differentially expressed genes were selected for assessing class prediction. The ?H2AX assay confirmed significant induction of DNA damage after treatment with GTX compounds, whereas NGTX compounds showed no activity beyond background levels. Discrimination of GTX and NGTX carcinogens by Prediction Analysis of Microarray (PAM) was validated and resulted in a perfect classification. The present study shows that gene expression profiling in primary mouse hepatocytes is promising for discriminating between GTX and NGTX compounds and that this classification improves with increasing treatment period.
Project description:The current test strategy for carcinogenicity is generally based on in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity assays. Non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGTXC) are negative for genotoxicity and go undetected. Therefore, alternative tests to detect these chemicals are urgently needed. NGTXC act through different modes of action, which complicates the development of such assays. We have demonstrated recently in primary mouse hepatocytes that some, but certainly not all, NGTXC can be categorized according to their mode of action based on feature detection at a gene expression level (Schaap et al. 2012 (PMID 22710402)). Identification of a wider range of chemicals probably requires multiple in vitro systems. In the current study, we describe the added value of using mouse embryonic stem cells. In this study, the focus is on NGTXC, but we also included genotoxic carcinogens and non-carcinogens. This approach enables us to assess the robustness of this method and to evaluate the system for recognizing features of chemicals in general, which is important for application in future risk assessment.
Project description:The increasing number of man-made chemicals in the environment that may pose a carcinogenic risk emphasizes the need for the development of reliable time- and cost-effective approaches for carcinogen detection. To address this issue, we have investigated the utility of human hepatocytes for the in vitro identification of genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived human hepatocytes were treated with the genotoxic carcinogens aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and with the non-genotoxic liver carcinogen methapyrilene at non-cytotoxic concentrations for 7 days, and transcriptomic profile was examined. 1569 (892 protein-coding and 677 non-coding), 1693 (922 protein-coding and 771 non-coding), and 2061 (1462 protein-coding and 599 non-coding) differentially expressed genes were detected in cells treated with AFB1, B[a]P, and methapyrilene, respectively. Additionally, we examined the toxicogenomics response to AFB1, B[a]P, and methapyrilene exposure in human HepaRG cells and demonstrated that carcinogens had a less prominent effect on the cellular transcriptome as compared to that in human iPSC-derived hepatocytes. Overall, the results demonstrate that the prime non-genotoxic effect of exposure to carcinogens, regardless of their mode of action, in short-term in vitro testing is a profound global transcriptome response, indicating a greater value of toxicogenomics for rapid carcinogen screening in vitro.
Project description:Expression data from CD-1 mouse liver samples obtained from in-vivo treatment with genotoxic carcinogens, non-genotoxic carcinogens or non-hepatocarcinogens.
Project description:At present, substantial efforts are focused on the development of in vitro assays coupled with M-bM-^@M-^]omicsM-bM-^@M-^] technologies for the identification of carcinogenic substances as an alternative to the classical 2-year rodent carcinogenicity bioassay. A prerequisite for the eventual regulatory acceptance of such assays, however, is the in vivo relevance of the observed in vitro findings. In the current study, hepatocarcinogen-induced gene expression profiles generated after exposure of conventional cultures of primary rat hepatocytes to three non-genotoxic carcinogens (methapyrilene hydrochloride, piperonyl butoxide and Wy-14643), three genotoxic carcinogens (aflatoxin B1, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and 2-nitrofluorene), and two non-carcinogens (nifedipine and clonidine) are compared with previously obtained in vivo data after oral administration for up to 14 days of the same hepatocarcinogens to rats.
Project description:For assessing the cancer-causing potential for humans of a chemical compound, the conventional approach is the use of the 2-year rodent carcinogenicity bioassay, thus alternatives such as in vitro toxicogenomics are highly desired. In the present study, the transcriptomics responses following exposure to genotoxic (GTX) and non-genotoxic (NGTX) hepatocarcinogens and non-carcinogens (NC) in five liver-based in vitro models, namely conventional and epigenetically-stabilized cultures of primary rat hepatocytes, the human hepatoma-derived HepaRG and HepG2 cell lines and the human embryonic stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells hES-Heps are examined and compared. The global gene expression profiles of five commonly used liver-based in vitro systems are investigated, namely conventional cultures of primary rat hepatocytes (HepsC), Trichostatin A (TSA)-stabilized cultures of primary rat hepatocytes (HepsT), human embryonic stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells (hES-Hep), HepG2 and HepaRG cells. These models are exposed to 15 prototypical compounds which have been carefully chosen and belong to 3 toxic classes i.e. (i) genotoxic (GTX) (aflatoxin B1, AFB1; 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone, NNK; 2-nitrofluorene, 2NF; benzo(a)pyrene, BaP; cyclophosphamide, CYCLO), (ii) non-genotoxic (NGTX) (methapyrilene hydrochloride, MPH; piperonylbutoxide , PIPB; Wy-14643, WYE; phenobarbital sodium, SPB; 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, TPA) carcinogens and (iii) non-carcinogens (NC) (nifedipine, NIF; clonidine, CND; D-mannitol, MAN; tolbutamide, TOL; diclofenac sodium, SDF). For the gene- and pathway- based analysis, the raw microarray data was re-annotated to Ensembl version 61 genome and Gene Chip Robust Multi-array Average (GC-RMA) normalized (Dai et al. 2005). This resulted in 11,187 and 18,919 probe sets for the rat and the human models, respectively. For the classification analysis, the raw microarray data was annotated using the chip description files from Affymetrix and then GC-RMA normalized. In order to eliminate batch effects, data from the different studies were half-z normalized. Half-z-normalization adjusts the logarithmic expression values of transcripts within a group such that each transcript has zero mean.