Dioxin exposure of human CD34+ hemopoietic cells induces gene expression modulation that recapitulates its in vivo clinical and biological effects

2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) has a large number of biological effects, including skin, cardiovascular, neurologic disease, diabetes, infertility and cancer. We analysed the in vitro TCDD effects on human CD34+ cells and tested the gene expression modulation by means of microarray analyses before and after TCDD exposure. We identified 253 differentially modulated probe sets, identifying 217 well-characterized genes. A large part of these were associated with cell adhesion and/or angiogenesis and with transcription regulation. Synaptic transmission and visual perception functions, with the particular involvement of the GABAergic pathway, were also significantly modulated. Numerous transcripts involved in cell cycle or cell proliferation, immune response, signal transduction, ion channel activity or calcium ion binding, tissue development and differentiation, female or male fertility or in several metabolic pathways were also affected after dioxin exposure. The transcriptional profile induced by TCDD treatment on human CD34+ cells strikingly reproduces the clinical and biological effects observed in individuals exposed to dioxin and in biological experimental systems.

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Fracchiolla NS, Todoerti K, Bertazzi PA, Servida F, Corradini P, Carniti C, Colombi A, Cecilia Pesatori A, Neri A, Deliliers GL