Fundamental Toxicological Sciences

Paper Details

Fundamental Toxicological Sciences
Vol. 1 No. 4 December 04, 2014 p.131-133
Toxicomics Report
Effects of cadmium on the gene expression of SLC39A1 coding for ZIP1 protein
  • Masahiko Satoh (Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Aichi Gakuin University / masahiko@dpc.agu.ac.jp)
Jin-Yong Lee 1) , Maki Tokumoto 1) , Yasuyuki Fujiwara 1) 2) , Moo-Yeol Lee 3) , Masahiko Satoh 1)
1) Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Aichi Gakuin University , 2) Department of Environmental Health, School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences , 3) College of Pharmacy, Dongguk University, Republic of Korea
Keywords: Cadmium, HK-2 cells, SLC39A1
Abstracts

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal, particularly in the kidney. Zinc transporters have been reported to be responsible for the absorption of Cd in the kidney. Interestingly, we previously found in a DNA microarray that exposure to Cd suppressed the expression of the gene coding for the zinc transporter ZIP1 (SLC39A1) in HK-2 human kidney proximal tubular cells. In this study, we validated by realtime RT-PCR that SLC39A1 gene expression was indeed decreased upon treatment with 40 μM Cd. We also demonstrated that knockdown of SLC39A1 by siRNA transfection conferred resistance to Cd in HK-2 cells. Together, this suggests that gene suppression of SLC39A1 by Cd is involved in the defense mechanism against the Cd toxicity in HK-2 cells.