HepG2 treated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Assessing the potential carcinogenicity of human toxins represents an ongoing challenge. Chronic rodent bioassays predict human cancer risk with limited reliability, and are expensive and time-consuming. To identify alternative prediction methods, we evaluated a transcriptomics-based human in vitro model to classify carcinogens by their modes of action. The aim of this study was to determine the transcriptomic response and identify specific molecular signatures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used as predictors of carcinogenicity of environmental toxins in human in vitro systems. We found that characteristic molecular signatures facilitate identification and prediction of carcinogens. To evaluate the change in gene expression levels, human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells were exposed to nine different PAHs (benzo[a]pyrene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, 3-methylcholanthrene, naphthalene, chrysene, phenanthrene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, and indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene) for 48 h. Gene expression analysis was conducted using a 44K whole human genome microarray (Agilent Technologies, USA).