Evaluation of differential gene expression in placental tissues 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 human placental villous explant tissues. The results of this study were compared to a parallel study using the placental cell line HTR-8/SVneo. Placental villous explants were exposed in five independent experiments to 0 or 20 µM DCVC for 12 h in vitro; 10 samples in total. Villous explants used for non-treated and treated groups, respectively within each experiment, were sourced and matched from the same placenta. Gene specific gene expression levels were compared between non-treated samples (controls) and samples treated with 20 µM DCVC for 12 h.