ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2009
Cadmium malignantly transforms normal human breast epithelial cells into a basal-like phenotype.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between dietary cadmium exposure and breast cancer risk: an updated meta-analysis of observational studies.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2015Pooled it
- Multi-Targeted Mechanisms of Phytochemicals in Mitigating Cadmium-Induced Breast Cancer.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Chronic cadmium exposure promotes TRPM7-dependent acquisition of a myofibroblast-like phenotype in pancreatic stellate cells.Cell biology and toxicology · 2026Article
- Exploring the Influence of Chemical Exposures in Breast Cancer Disparities: High-Throughput Transcriptomic Analysis in Normal Breast Cells from Diverse Donors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Rethinking the microenvironment's role in chemical-induced malignancy.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2026Review
- The Hematological Variations and Effect of Cadmium Induced Toxicity on Mammary Tumors Development in Albino Mice. A Comparative Model Study on the Effect of Heavy Metals in Human Breast Cancer.Anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry · 2026Article
- 5'-Methylthioadenosine Metabolic Reprogramming Drives H3K79 Monomethylation-Mediated PAK2 Upregulation to Promote Cadmium-Induced Breast Cancer Progression by Impairing Autophagic Flux.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- DNA damage response inhibition is an early event in cadmium-induced breast carcinogenesis.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of Heavy Metal Cadmium (Cd)-Induced Malignancy.Biological trace element research · 2025Review
- Toxicity Tolerance in the Carcinogenesis of Environmental Cadmium.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The dynamic face of cadmium-induced Carcinogenesis: Mechanisms, emerging trends, and future directions.Current research in toxicology · 2024Review
- Investigating phenotypic plasticity due to toxicants with exposure disparities in primary human breast cellsFrontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Multiscale optical phase fluctuations link disorder strength and fractal dimension of cell structure.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- Genomic Redistribution of Metal-Response Transcription Factor-1 (MTF-1) in Cadmium Resistant Cells.Cells · 2023Article
- Estimation of health risks associated with dietary cadmium exposure.Archives of toxicology · 2023Review
- Review
- Prolonged Cadmium Exposure Alters Migration Dynamics and Increases Heterogeneity of Human Uterine Fibroid Cells-Insights from Time Lapse Analysis.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Environmental Cadmium Exposure Promotes the Development, Progression and Chemoradioresistance of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Exposure to airborne cadmium and breast cancer stage, grade and histology at diagnosis: findings from the E3N cohort study.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Meta-analysis of gene expression profiling reveals novel basal gene signatures in MCF-10A cells transformed with cadmium.Oncotarget · 2020Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBreast cancer has recently been linked to cadmium exposure. Although not uniformly supported, it is hypothesized that cadmium acts as a metalloestrogenic carcinogen via the estrogen receptor (ER). Thus, we studied the effects of chronic exposure to cadmium on the normal human breast epithelial cell line MCF-10A, which is ER-negative but can convert to ER-positive during malignant transformation.
methodsCells were continuously exposed to low-level cadmium (2.5 μM) and checked in vitro and by xenograft study for signs of malignant transformation. Transformant cells were molecularly characterized by protein and transcript analysis of key genes in breast cancer.
resultsOver 40 weeks of cadmium exposure, cells showed increasing secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-9, loss of contact inhibition, increased colony formation, and increasing invasion, all typical for cancer cells. Inoculation of cadmium-treated cells into mice produced invasive, metastatic anaplastic carcinoma with myoepithelial components. These cadmium-transformed breast epithelial (CTBE) cells displayed characteristics of basal-like breast carcinoma, including ER-alpha negativity and HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) negativity, reduced expression of BRCA1 (breast cancer susceptibility gene 1), and increased CK5 (cytokeratin 5) and p63 expression. CK5 and p63, both breast stem cell markers, were prominently overexpressed in CTBE cell mounds, indicative of persistent proliferation. CTBE cells showed global DNA hypomethylation and c-myc and k-ras overexpression, typical in aggressive breast cancers. CTBE cell xenograft tumors were also ER-alpha negative.
conclusionsCadmium malignantly transforms normal human breast epithelial cells-through a mechanism not requiring ER-alpha-into a basal-like cancer phenotype. Direct cadmium induction of a malignant phenotype in human breast epithelial cells strongly fortifies a potential role in breast cancer.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.