title: Malignant human cell transformation of Marcellus Shale gas drilling flow back water.
abstract: The rapid development of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing for mining natural gas from shale has posed potential impacts on human health and biodiversity. The produced flow back waters after hydraulic stimulation are known to carry high levels of saline and total dissolved solids. To understand the toxicity and potential carcinogenic effects of these wastewaters, flow back waters from five Marcellus hydraulic fracturing oil and gas wells were analyzed. The physicochemical nature of these samples was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. A cytotoxicity study using colony formation as the endpoint was carried out to define the LC50 values of test samples using human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). The BEAS-2B cell transformation assay was employed to assess the carcinogenic potential of the samples. Barium and strontium were among the most abundant metals in these samples and the same metals were found to be elevated in BEAS-2B cells after long-term treatment. BEAS-2B cells treated for 6weeks with flow back waters produced colony formation in soft agar that was concentration dependent. In addition, flow back water-transformed BEAS-2B cells show better migration capability when compared to control cells. This study provides information needed to assess the potential health impact of post-hydraulic fracturing flow back waters from Marcellus Shale natural gas mining.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Public Health, China; Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Yixin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: School of Material Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmaceutical, New York University School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Steven S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Yingmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: DesMarais
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Reka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Linn
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lioy
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kluz
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA.
authors.forename: Lung-Chi
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Science, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. Electronic address: wuzhuangchun@mail.njust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhuangchun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987, USA. Electronic address: max.costa@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zelikoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001980:Bronchi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D000067071:Hydraulic Fracking; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Barium; Cytotoxicity; Epigenetics; Marcellus Shale; Mutagenesis; Strontium