First-stage Genome-wide Gene Expression Analyses of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Exposed to IC50 Ni (2+) ions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of IC50 Ni (2+) ions on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) cultured for one day by 29k full-genome DNA microarray analyses. It became evident that 39 genes of hMSC were up-regulated more than 5-fold, while 24 genes of hMSC were down-regulated less than 0.2-fold. The analyses suggested that (1) for cell protection, cell cycle arrest due to up-regulation of cyclindependent kinase inhibitor genes occurred while Ni (2+) ion intracellular transfer was minimized, (2) hypoxia condition due to down-regulation of channel/transporter related genes caused minor inflammation reaction containing up-regulation of several chemokine ligand genes through MAPK pathway, and (3) intracellular intake of minimum amounts of Ni (2+) ions might take place by up-regulation of zinc finger print protein and ferritin related genes. The master system to regulate the hMSC reaction against Ni (2+) ions needs to be clarified in the future.