Potential carcinogenicity of carbon nanotubes

Details

• Personal Author:
  Castranova, Vincent ; Lu Y ; Luanpitpong S ; Pongrakhananon V ; Rojanasakul Y ; Wang L
• Description:
  Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have increasing been used for wide applications with a potential for human exposure. Concerns about the potential carcinogenicity of CNT have been raised since CNT exhibit a bio-persistence and a fibrous morphology similar to asbestos which is a known carcinogen. However, there is neither clear knowledge nor a practical method to assess this potential. In this study, we developed an in vitro chronic exposure model combined with in vivo xenograft model to address these needs. Non-tumorigenic human lung epithelial BEAS-2B cells were continuously exposed to a sub-cytotoxic concentration (0.04 ug/ml or 0.02 ug/cm2 exposed area) of single-walled CNT (SWCNT) in culture. Phenotypic changes were observed in SWCNT-treated cells 20 weeks post-exposure such as formation of cell mounds and accelerated cell growth. SWCNT-treated cells were subsequently analyzed for malignant properties including colony formation, cell migration and invasive properties. Significant positive results were observed from SWCNT-treated cells in all above studies compared to passage-matched control cells. In vivo tumorigenesis study was performed by subcutaneously injecting the transformed cells into nude mice. Consistent with the in vitro cell transformation results, the in vivo results showed large tumor formation at the injection site in mice receiving SWCNT-transformed cells, whereas mice receiving control cells showed no tumor formation. These studies indicate that long-term/low dose exposure of human lung epithelial cells to SWCNT induced malignant transformation of the cells which induced tumor formation in vivo. These results suggest a potential carcinogenic effect of SWCNT. The described cell model system could potentially be used as a predictive model for carcinogenicity testing of nanomaterials. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Irritants Laboratories Lung Lung Diseases Neoplasms Occupational Health Respiratory Hypersensitivity Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Biological-effects Cancer Carcinogenicity Cell-biology Cell-function Cell-metabolism Cell-morphology Cell-transformation Cellular-reactions Exposure-assessment Humans Inhalation-studies Laboratory-animals Laboratory-testing Lung-cancer Lung-cells Lung-disease Lung-disorders Lung-irritants Medical-research Nanotechnology Physiological-effects Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Quantitative-analysis Respiratory-hypersensitivity Respiratory-irritants Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis

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• ISSN:
  1096-6080
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  120
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038518
• Citation:
  Toxicologist 2011 Mar; 120(Suppl 2):254
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon (CAS RN 7440-44-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The Toxicologist. Society of Toxicology 50th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 6-10, 2011, Washington, DC
• Supplement:
  2
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0af6ecefbbcd89b4f91d9bbd05be74a612b2c81ed2923e87a99195a22a49c0b573650d185e8076df04fab11cc4dd567a8158bc06e7ac0890c640cae88171f8b3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192204/cdc_192204_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.09 MB ]