High levels of boron promote anchorage-independent growth of nontumorigenic cells

Huadong Xu; Kazunori Hashimoto; Masao Maeda; Mohammad Daud Azimi; Said Hafizullah Fayaz; Wei Chen; Nobuyuki Hamajima; Masashi Kato

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115094

High levels of boron promote anchorage-independent growth of nontumorigenic cells

Environ Pollut. 2020 Nov;266(Pt 3):115094. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115094. Epub 2020 Jun 28.

Authors

Huadong Xu¹, Kazunori Hashimoto¹, Masao Maeda², Mohammad Daud Azimi³, Said Hafizullah Fayaz⁴, Wei Chen¹, Nobuyuki Hamajima⁵, Masashi Kato⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan; Voluntary Body for International Health Care in Universities, Nagoya, Japan.
² Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan.
³ Human Resources of Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁴ Department of Healthcare Administration, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan; Administrative Office of the President, Deputy Public Relations and Outreach, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁵ Department of Healthcare Administration, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan.
⁶ Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan; Voluntary Body for International Health Care in Universities, Nagoya, Japan; Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Life and Health Sciences, Chubu University, Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai-shi, Aichi, Japan. Electronic address: katomsasa@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 32659568
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115094

Abstract

WHO has presented a health-based guideline value for boron in drinking water. That fact indicates that a high level of boron is toxic for humans. However, there is no direct evidence of boron-mediated malignant transformation. In this study, human lung epithelial nontumorigenic BEAS-2B cells and tumorigenic A549 cells were used to investigate the tumorigenic toxicity of boron in vitro. Anchorage-independent growth, a hallmark of malignant transformation, was increased by boron at concentrations of 50, 250 and 500 μM in BEAS-2B cells, though the same concentrations of boron had no influence on anchorage-independent growth of A549 cells. Moreover, boron at concentrations of 250 and 500 μM activated the c-SRC/PI3K/AKT pathway of BEAS-2B cells. The results of our in vitro study suggest that exposure to high levels of boron promotes transforming activity of nontumorigenic cells.

Keywords: Boron; Tumorigenic pathway; Tumorigenic risk; Well drinking water.

MeSH terms

Boron*
Cell Line
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic
Epithelial Cells
Humans
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases*

Substances

Boron