An MSU researcher will study links between arsenic exposure and lung cancer to determine new treatments using a recently secured $1.7 million grant.
The National Institutes of Health awarded Chengfeng Yang, a physiology assistant professor with the College of Veterinary Medicine and MSU’s Center for Integrative Toxicology, a five-year general grant to study the roles of small ribonucleic acids called microRNAs in cell transformation caused by direct exposure to arsenic.
“Currently, it is well known that arsenic causes cancer, but the mechanism is not clear,” Yang said.
MicroRNAs are gene regulators that have been found to have decreased function levels when many types of cancerous tumors are present in the body, Yang said.
“Scientists don’t know if the decrease in mircoRNA is because of the tumor, or if the tumor is caused by the decrease,” he said.
Researchers will use arsenic-treated human cells and mice as a model to study the concept, Yang said.
The mechanism causing cell transformation from normal to cancerous tissue might be able to be managed and treated, said Zhishan Wang, a research lab associate.
“If we can figure out what is involved and can be regulated in this process, then we can use this and inhibit the process,” she said.
If the beginning of the change can be identified using microRNA levels as markers, testing these levels could be used for large population diagnoses of the cancer in its early stages, Wang said.
Lung cancer caused by arsenic is common in developing countries, such as India, with large populations and limited medical resources, Yang said.
Arsenic can cause many ailments through various forms of exposure, said Thomas Voice, a geological sciences professor.
“Arsenic occurs naturally in some soil and rock minerals,” Voice said in an e-mail. “A primary route of exposure involves dissolution into groundwater that serves as a drinking water source.”
Exposure to arsenic must be repeated during a long period of time to cause the development of cancer, said James Trosko, a professor in MSU’s Department of Pediatrics and Human Development.
“Arsenic belongs to a series of chemicals and biological agents, such as viruses and bacteria, that contribute to the promotion phase of cancer that takes decades for the cancer finally to appear,” Trosko said.
Arsenic is one of the most common environmental contaminants, and is a growing problem, Yang said.
“Many types of cancer are increased in humans because of environmental pollution,” Yang said. “As scientists, we have to fight and reduce the problem and improve human health.”
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