Abstract
This study focused on the effects of arsenic (As) on fibroblast-derived matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -14 levels, as these proteins were reported to be associated with tumor progression. Arsenic was found to promote production of the fibroblast-derived active form of MMP-2. Further, As at 100 or 1000 μM increased MMP-14 expression levels in fibroblasts. In addition, 1000 μM mercury (Hg) but not As increased pro-MMP-2 protein, which is involved in the conversion of the proenzyme into its active form. Since MMP-14 is an activator of pro-MMP-2, data suggest that As promotes production of fibroblast-derived active form of MMP-2 through increased expression of MMP-14. Evidence indicates that As appeared to be less effective than Hg in the conversion of pro-MMP-2 into its active form.
This study was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (19390168 and 20406003) and Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientist (B) (20700370) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Grant-in Aid for JSPS Fellows from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (17-05444), the Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation (TBRF) Postdoctoral fellowship for Asian Researcher and the Hibi Science and Technology foundation. We thank Yoko Kato for technical assistance.