Prolonged cadmium exposure alters benign uterine fibroid cell behavior, extracellular matrix components, and TGFB signaling [CanProg]

In our lab, Cadmium treatment of human fibroid cells induced a cancer phenotype and altered glycogen metabolism. In this study we treated fibroid cells with cadmium continuously for 2 or 6 months. Cancer progression and pathway gene expression were investigated using NanoString Technologies. A human uterine leiomyoma cell line immortalized via retroviral transfection of telomerase (ht-UtLM) was generated by our laboratory. For 2 or 6 month Cd-exposure, the ht-UtLM cultures were maintained continuously in ht-UtLM culture medium supplemented with 10 uM CdCl2 for 16 weeks. The culture medium was replaced with fresh medium with 10 ?M CdCl2 every 3 days. Passage-matched control ht-UtLM cultures were run concurrently with Cd exposed cells. All cultures were kept in a standard tissue culture incubator at 37°C with 5% CO2