Nickel and cadmium-induced SLBP depletion: A potential pathway to metal mediated cellular transformation

Both nickel and cadmium compounds have been established as group I carcinogens for several decades. Despite over-whelming evidence of these compounds’ carcinogenicity in humans, the specific underlying molecular mechanisms that govern metal induced cellular transformation remain unclear. In this study, we found that there were slightly different effects on decreased SLBP mRNA and protein as well as increased polyA H3.1 in our nickel exposed cells. This suggested that nickel and arsenic have similar effects on canonical histone mRNA transcription and translation. We also saw that the depletion of SLBP protein was reversed by inhibiting the proteosome. Finally, we showed that inhibiting the SLBP mRNA and protein levels were rescued by epigenetic modifiers suggesting that nickel’s effects on SLBP may be mediated via epigenetic mechanisms. Taken together these results suggest a similar mechanism by which both arsenic and nickel may exert their carcinogenic effects.