Di-N-Octylphthalate Acts as a Proliferative Agent in Murine Cell Hepatocytes by Regulating the Levels of Pro-Apoptotic Proteins

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the US. Its development is thought to be associated with inactivation of tumor suppressors by methylation. Di-n-octylphthalate (DNOP), a common plasticizer, is believed to cause hepatic pre-neoplastic lesions. Because a number of tumor suppressors are shown to be not expressed in HCC, our goal was to identify tumor suppressor genes methylated upon treatment with 0.1 % DNOP at 24, 48, 72 h in mouse hepatocytes cell line AML-12 and isolated primary cultured mouse hepatocytes. None of tumor suppressors experienced a change in the methylation status in presence of DNOP. Because we found that DNOP causes an increase in cell proliferation, we studied whether the effect is paralleled to a suppression of apoptosis. We found that DNOP causes a decrease in pro-apoptotic proteins and no change in anti-apoptotic proteins. We studied the physiological effects of DNOP in mouse liver. Mice were treated with 0.1 % DNOP for a month. DNOP caused a decrease in bile secretion and an increase in the hepatic levels of bile acids and glutathione. Avoiding the use of DNOP as a plasticizer in products for human consumption can reduce the incidence of diseases related to its hepatotoxicity.