Validation of human HazChem array using VOC exposure in HL-60 cells

Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have been shown to cause nervous system disorders through skin contact or respiration, and also cause foul odors even at low densities in most cases. Also, as a compound itself, VOCs are directly harmful to the environment and to the human body, and may participate in photochemical reactions in air to create secondary pollutants. In this study, HL-60 cells were treated with volatile organic compounds, including ethylbenzene and trichloroethylene, at a value of IC50. Then, the in house-prepared Human HazChem arrayer was utilized in order to compare the gene expression between the two VOCs. After hybridization, 8 upregulated genes and 8 downregulated genes were discovered in the HazChem array. The upregulated genes were identified as SG15, TNFSF10, PRNP, ME1, NCOA4, SRXN1, TXNRD1, and XBP1. The downregulated genes were identified as MME, NRF1, PRARBP, CALCA, CRP, BAX, C7 or f40, and FGFR1. Such results were highly correlated with the quantitative RT-PCR results. The, majority of the 16 genes were related with the characteristics of VOCs, including respiratory mechanism, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis-associated genes. Our data showed that our human HazChem array can be used to monitor hazardous materials via gene expression profiling.