Evidence for toxicity differences between inorganic arsenite and thioarsenicals in human bladder cancer cells

Arsenic toxicity is dependent on its chemical species. In humans, the bladder is one of the primary target organs for arsenic-induced carcinogenicity. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying arsenic-induced carcinogenicity, and what arsenic species are responsible for this carcinogenicity. The present study aimed at comparing the toxic effect of DMMTAV with that of inorganic arsenite (iAsIII) on cell viability, uptake efficiency and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) toward human bladder cancer EJ-1 cells. The results were compared with those of a previous study using human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells. Although iAsIII was known to be toxic to most cells, here we show that iAsIII (LC50 = 112 μM) was much less cytotoxic than DMMTAV (LC50 = 16.7 μM) in human bladder EJ-1 cells. Interestingly, pentavalent sulfur-containing DMMTAV generated a high level of intracellular ROS in EJ-1 cells. However, this was not observed in the cells exposed to trivalent inorganic iAsIII at their respective LC50 dose. Furthermore, the presence of N-acetyl-cysteine completely inhibited the cytotoxicity of DMMTAV but not iAsIII, suggesting that production of ROS was the main cause of cell death from exposure to DMMTAV, but not iAsIII. Because the cellular uptake of iAsIII is mediated by aquaporin proteins, and because the resistance of cells to arsenite can be influenced by lower arsenic uptake due to lower expression of aquaporin proteins (AQP 3, 7 and 9), the expression of several members of the aquaporin family was also examined. In human bladder EJ-1 cells, mRNA/proteins of AQP3, 7 and 9 were not detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)/western blotting. In A431 cells, only mRNA and protein of AQP3 were detected. The large difference in toxicity between the two cell lines could be related to their differences in uptake of arsenic species.