title: Differential gene expression analysis in k562 human leukemia cell line treated with benzene.
abstract: Even though exposure to benzene has been linked to a variety of cancers including leukemia, the detailed molecular mechanisms relevant to benzene-induced carcinogenesis remain to be clearly elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the effects of benzene on differential gene expression in a leukemia cell line. The K562 leukemia cell line used in this study was cultured for 3 h with 10 mM benzene and RNA was extracted. To analyze the gene expression profiles, a 41,000 human whole genome chip was employed for cDNA microarray analysis. We initially identified 6,562 genes whose expression was altered by benzene treatment. Among these, 3,395 genes were upregulated and 3,167 genes were downregulated by more than 2-fold, respectively. The results of functional classification showed that the identified genes were involved in biological pathways including transcription, cell proliferation, the cell cycle, and apoptosis. These gene expression profiles should provide us with further insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying benzene-induced carcinogenesis, including leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, College of Natural Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756.
authors.forename: Sulji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ji-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jai-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Hee Jo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Hoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kook
authors.forename: Sang-Beom
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Seo
keywords: Benzene; Cell proliferation; Gene expression; Leukemia; Microarray