Butyl 2,3-epoxypropyl ether (CAS No. 2426-08-6, synonym: n-butylglycidyl ether, BGE) was exposed by whole body inhalation to F344 rats and BDF1 mice of both sexes (50 animals per group) 6 hours per day, 5 days per week for 104 weeks at targeted concentrations of 0, 10, 30 or 90 ppm (v/v) for rats and 0, 5, 15 or 45 ppm for mice. In rats, 90 ppm of BGE increased the incidences of nasal squamous cell carcinomas in both sexes. Nasal adenomas and splenic mononuclear cell leukemia were increased in male rats exposed to 30 ppm. Splenic mononuclear cell leukemia was increased in female rats by trend test. Non-neoplastic nasal lesions, such as squamous cell hyperplasia with atypia, squamous cell metaplasia and the inflammation of the respiratory region and atrophy of the olfactory epithelium were increased in both sexes in a dose-dependent manner. In mice, the incidences of histiocytic sarcomas of the uterus in female mice were increased in a dose-dependent manner and the incidences of nasal hemangiomas in both sexes were increased in a dose-dependent manner. Nasal squamous cell carcinoma, a rare tumor, was observed, although not statistically significant, in both sexes. Non-neoplastic lesions such as nodular hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium and cuboidal changes of the respiratory epithelium in the nasal cavity, were increased both in males and females in a dose-dependent manner. The present study demonstrated clear evidence of carcinogenicity of BGE in both rats and mice by the 2-year whole body inhalation exposure.

Eupalinolide J (EJ) is a new sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Eupatorium lindleyanum DC. In the present study, we investigated the anti-cancer activity of EJ on cell proliferation in human prostate cancer cells. The MTT results indicated that EJ showed marked anti-proliferative activity in PC-3 and DU-145 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. DAPI staining analysis demonstrated that this effect was mediated by induction of cell apoptosis. Flow cytometric analysis indicated a significant increase in apoptotic cells, cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) after EJ treatment. Meanwhile, the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9 was visibly observed. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the expression levels of γH2AX, p-Chk1 and p-Chk2 were significantly up-regulated, suggesting the induction of DNA damage responses in EJ-treated prostate cancer cells. The above results indicated that EJ exhibited effective anti-cancer activity in vitro. It could be a promising candidate agent for the clinical treatment of prostate cancer.

In this study, we found that nuclear receptors FXR and LXR (originally characterized as regulatory factors involved in cholesterol/bile acid homeostasis) regulate the expression of Oct3/4, a marker for cell differentiation, in both normal renal-derived cell line HK-2 and renal adenocarcinoma cell line ACHN. Down-regulation of Oct3/4 expression by activating FXR and LXR occurs only in normal renal cell-derived HK-2 cells. We also found that the RNA-binding protein, ELAVL2, oppositely regulates Oct3/4 expressions in HK-2 and ACHN cells. Moreover, we revealed that LXR-alpha and LXR-beta regulate each other’s expression. Although an LXR-beta-specific agonist is assumed to be the basis for an anti-arteriosclerotic drug that only stimulates reverse cholesterol transport, our findings show that the development of such an anti-arteriosclerotic drug would require further elucidation of the complex mechanism of LXR-alpha and LXR-beta regulation.

Cataract induced by exposure to naphthalene is thought to mainly involve its metabolic activation, forming 1,2-naphthoquinone (1,2-NQ), which can modify proteins through chemical modifications. In the present study, we examined the effect of 1,2-NQ on aggregation of crystallins (cry) associated with cataract. Incubation of bovine β-cry with 1,2-NQ caused covalent modification of β-cry at Cys117 and Lys125 accompanied by reduction in its thiol content, resulting in a concentration- and temperature-dependent aggregation of β-cry, whereas only little aggregation of α-cry induced by 1,2-NQ was seen. Interestingly, addition of α-cry to the reaction mixture of β-cry and 1,2-NQ markedly blocked β-cry aggregation induced by 1,2-NQ in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that β-cry predominantly undergoes chemical modification by 1,2-NQ, causing its aggregation, which is suppressed by the chaperone-like protein, α-cry. This β-cry aggregation may be, at least in part, involved in the induction of cataract caused by 1,2-NQ.

3-Monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) is a food processing contaminant in the U.S. food supply, detected in infant formula. In vivo rodent model studies have identified a variety of possible adverse outcomes from 3-MCPD exposure including renal effects like increased kidney weights, tubular hyperplasia, kidney tubular necrosis, and chronic progressive nephropathy. Given the lack of available in vivo toxicological assessments of 3-MCPD in humans and the limited availability of in vitro human cell studies, the health effects of 3-MCPD remain unclear. We used in vitro human proximal tubule cells represented by the HK-2 cell line to compare short- and long-term consequences to continuous exposure to this compound. After periodic lengths of exposure (0-100 mM) ranging from 1 to 16 days, we evaluated cell viability, mitochondrial integrity, oxidative stress, and a specific biomarker of proximal tubule injury, Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1). Overall, we found that free 3-MCPD was generally more toxic at high concentrations or extended durations of exposure, but that its overall ability to induce cell injury was limited in this in vitro system. Further experiments will be needed to conduct a comprehensive safety assessment in infants who may be exposed to 3-MCPD through consumption of infant formula, as human renal physiology changes significantly during development.

Skin sensitization is a key adverse effect to be addressed during hazard identification and risk assessment of chemicals, because it is the first step in the development of allergic contact dermatitis. Multiple non-animal testing strategies incorporating in vitro tests and in silico tools have achieved good predictivities when compared with murine local lymph node assay (LLNA). The binary test battery of KeratinoSens^TM and h-CLAT could be used to classify non-sensitizers as the first part of bottom-up approach. However, the quantitative risk assessment for sensitizing chemicals requires a No Expected Sensitization Induction Level (NESIL), the dose not expected to induce skin sensitization in humans. We used Bayesian network integrated testing strategy (BN ITS-3) for chemical potency classification. BN ITS-3 predictions were performed without a pre-processing step (selecting data from their physic-chemical applicability domains) or post-processing step (Michael acceptor chemistry correction), neither of which necessarily improve prediction accuracy. For chemicals within newly defined applicability domain, all under-predictions fell within one potency class when compared with LLNA results, indicating no chemicals that were incorrectly classified by more than one class. Considering the potential under-prediction by one class, a worst case value to each class from BN ITS-3 was used to derive a NESIL. When in vivo and human data from suitable analogs cannot be used to estimate the uncertainty, adjusting the NESIL derived from BN ITS-3 may help perform skin sensitization risk assessment. The overall workflow for risk assessment was demonstrated by incorporating the binary test battery of KeratinoSens^TM and h-CLAT.