Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer dearth. Cigarette smoking is the strongest risk factor for developing lung cancer, which is conceivably initiated by proliferation. Here, we show that low concentration of aqueous extract of cigarette smoke (AECS) causes excessive proliferation of human lung epithelial cells (A549) without any apoptotic cell death. The causative factor responsible for ...

Protein binding of hemoglobin (Hb) and bone marrow was used to compare in vivo reactions of 3 electrophilic metabolites of benzene, i.e., benzene oxide and 1,2- and 1,4-benzoquinone (1, 2-BQ and 1, 4-BQ), in F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice. Following a single p.o. administration of a mixture of [14C]- and [13C6]benzene between 50 and 400 mg/kg body weight, cysteine adducts of benzene oxide, 1,2-BQ, a...

We used cysteinyl adducts of serum albumin (Alb) to investigate the production of two reactive benzene metabolites, namely, benzene oxide (BO) and 1,4-benzoquinone (1,4-BQ) in workers exposed to benzene. Adducts were measured in 160 benzene-exposed workers who did not use respiratory protection (based upon individual geometric mean benzene exposure levels: median=5.27 ppm, interquartile range=2...

Electrophile-mediated post-translational modifications (PTMs) are known to cause tissue toxicities and disease progression. These effects are mediated via site-specific modifications and structural disruptions associated with such modifications. 1,4-Benzoquinone (BQ) and its quinone-thioether metabolites are electrophiles that elicit their toxicity via protein arylation and the generation of re...

Benzene, a known occupational and environmental contaminant, is associated with increased risk of leukemia. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the regulatory mechanism of the hypomethylated STAT3 involved in benzene toxicity in vitro. As 1,4-benzoquinone (1,4-BQ) is one of benzene's major toxic metabolites, AHH-1 cells were treated by 1,4-BQ for 24 h with or without pretreatment of ...

Arthrobacter protophormiae strain RKJ100 is capable of utilizing p-nitrophenol (PNP) as well as 4-nitrocatechol (NC) as the sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy. The degradation of PNP and NC by this microorganism takes place through an oxidative route, as stoichiometry of nitrite molecules was observed when the strain was grown on PNP or NC as sole carbon and energy sources. The degradat...

Electrochemical polymerization of aniline is one of the most promising methods to prepare polyaniline (PANI) materials. However, during this process, the electrolyte solution must be replaced after electropolymerization of a certain time because of the generation and the accumulation of the by-products, which have significant effects on the morphology, purity and properties of PANI products. Tr...

Benzene is an occupational toxicant and an environmental pollutant that is able to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), causing oxidative stress and damages of the macromolecules in target cells, such as the hematopoietic stem cells. We had previously found that embryonic yolk sac hematopoietic stem cells (YS-HSCs) are more sensitive to benzene toxicity than the adult bone ma...

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2E1 was the most efficient CYP enzyme that oxidized benzene to soluble and covalently bound metabolites in rat and human liver microsomes. The covalent binding was due mostly to the formation of benzoquinone (BQ), the oxidation product of hydroquinone (HQ), and was inversely related to the formation of soluble metabolites. In rats, inhalation of benzene (4 mg/liter of air)...

A dual quinone tagging strategy is designed for quantitation of cysteine-containing peptide (CCP) with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The quinone compounds can rapidly and specifically bind to the thiol group of cysteine residues by a Michael addition reaction, which is used to identify both CCP and the number of cysteine residues in CCP through the direct observation of untagged and tagged produ...