[Molecular biomarkers in workers and population exposed to inorganic arsenic: preliminary study in vitro]

The inorganic Arsenic (iAs) is a metalloid widely diffuse in all environmental matrices. The iAs has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non coding RNAs that negatively regulate the expression of hundreds of target genes in many key physiological and pathological cell processes, including stress response, differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and cancer, miRNA expression profiles appear altered in most human cancers and it has been highlighted the potential of miRNA profiling in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The present study evaluates the effect of iAs exposure on global miRNA expression in Jurkat cells. Treated cells show a reproducible increase in the expression levels of three miRNAs: miR-663, miR-222 and miR-638. This study supports the importance to proceeding in the investigation aimed to the possible application of some miRNAs as biomarkers in the environmental and occupational exposure to iAs.