Folate deficiency enhances arsenic effects on ODC mouse skin gene expression. Mus musculus

We demonstrate that expression of key markers of keratinocyte differentiation is suppressed by exposure to sodium arsenite. Folate deficiency exacerbates this effect. In addition, cancer-related cell movement genes, and growth and proliferation genes are altered. Several redox-sensitive transcription factors are implicated in mediating these gene expression changes due to arsenic treatment and folate deficiency. Keywords: gene expression/microarray Overall design: K6/ODC mice were maintained on either a folate deficient or folate sufficient diet and exposed to 0, 1, or 10 ppm sodium arsenite in the drinking water for 30 days. Total RNA was isolated from skin samples and gene expression analyzed using Affymetrix Mouse 430 2.0 GeneChips. Data from 24 samples, with four mice in each of the six treatment groups, were analyzed.