Abstract
Arsenic is an enigmatic xenobiotic that causes a multitude of chronic diseases including cancer and also is a therapeutic with promise in cancer treatment. Arsenic causes mitotic delay and induces aneuploidy in diploid human cells. In contrast, arsenic causes mitotic arrest followed by an apoptotic death in a multitude of virally transformed cells and cancer cells. We have explored the hypothesis that these differential effects of arsenic exposure are related by arsenic disruption of mitosis and are differentiated by the target cell’s ability to regulate or modify cell cycle checkpoints. Functional p53/CDKN1A axis has been shown to mitigate the mitotic block and to be essential to induction of aneuploidy. More recent preliminary data suggest that microRNA modulation of chromatid cohesion also may play a role in escape from mitotic block and in generation of chromosomal instability. Other recent studies suggest that arsenic may be useful in treatment of solid tumors when used in combination with other cytotoxic agents such as cisplatin.


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Acknowledgments
The author is indebted to the students and collaborators who contributed to the work discussed in this review. In no particular order, these include Sam McNeely, Frazier Taylor, Ana Maria Salazar, Ashok Giri, Vanessa States, Heather Miller, Clarisse Muenyi, Josh Masters, and Patricia Ostroskey-Wegman. The work discussed was supported in part by USPHS grant ES011314.
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States, J.C. Disruption of Mitotic Progression by Arsenic. Biol Trace Elem Res 166, 34–40 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0306-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0306-7