title: Elevated connexin 43 expression in arsenite-and cadmium-transformed human bladder cancer cells, tumor transplants and selected high grade human bladder cancers.
abstract: Connexin 43 has been shown to play a role in cell migration and invasion; however, its role in bladder cancer is not well defined. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that the environmental pollutants arsenite and cadmium can cause malignant transformation of the immortalized urothelial cell line UROtsa. These transformed cells can form tumors in immune-compromised mice. The goal of the present study was to determine if connexin 43 is expressed in the normal human bladder, the arsenite and cadmiun-transformed UROtsa cells as well as human urothelial cancer. The results obtained showed that connexin 43 is not expressed in the epithelial cells of the human bladder but is expressed in immortalized cultures of human urothelial cells and the expression is variable in the arsenite and cadmium- transformed urothelial cell lines derived from these immortalized cells. Tumor heterotransplants generated from the transformed cells expressed connexin 43 and the expression was localized to areas of squamous differentiation. Immuno-histochemical analysis of human bladder cancers also showed that the expression of connexin 43 was localized to areas of the tumor that showed early features of squamous differentiation. Treatment of UROtsa cells with various concentrations of arsenite or cadmium did not significantly alter the expression level of connexin 43. In conclusion, our results show that the expression of connexin 43 is localized to the areas of the tumor that show squamous differentiation, which may be an indicator of poor prognosis. This suggests that connexin 43 has the potential to be developed as a biomarker for bladder cancer that may have the ability to invade and metastasize.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: zrw0814@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Ruowen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: wlppping@126.com.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: scott.garrett@med.und.edu.
authors.forename: Scott H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: donald.sens@med.und.edu.
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sens
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: jane.dunlevy@med.und.edu.
authors.forename: Jane R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dunlevy
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: xudong.zhou@med.und.edu.
authors.forename: Xu Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota 501N. Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, United States. Electronic address: seema.somji@med.und.edu.
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Somji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018053:Arsenites / Q000633:toxicity; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D018031:Connexin 43 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D018053:Arsenites; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018031:Connexin 43; C500216:GJA1 protein, human; D002104:Cadmium; C015001:arsenite
keywords: Arsenic; Cadmium; Connexin 43; Squamous differentiation; UROtsa; Urothelial cancer