Evaluation of differential gene expression in a placental cell line exposed to the trichloroethylene metabolite S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine (DCVC)

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an industrial solvent and widespread environmental contaminant. Human TCE exposure is prevalent, though epidemiological studies testing TCE exposure and adverse birth outcomes are inconclusive. The TCE metabolite S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine (DCVC) exhibits toxicity at human-relevant concentrations in a placental cell line. To date, DCVC cytotoxicity mechanistic studies have been limited to single molecular signaling pathways and biological responses. In the current study, genome-wide gene expression and gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) were used to identify novel genes and pathways altered by human exposure-relevant DCVC concentrations in the human placental cell line HTR-8/SVneo. The results of this study were compared to a parallel study using placental villous exlant tissues. Overall design: HTR-8/SVneo cells were exposed in four independent experiments to 0, 10 or 20 µM DCVC for 6 or 12 h in vitro; 24 samples in total. Gene specific gene expression levels were compared between non-treated samples (controls) and samples treated with 10 or 20 µM DCVC, with separate comparisons made for 6 h or 12 h treatments.