Altered gene expression and functions in thalidomide-treated human placenta choriocarcinoma (JEG-3) cells

Abstract

Thalidomide is a sedative, hypnotic, and anti-inflammatory medicine. However, exposure during the pregnancy is known to cause several developmental disorders. The most fearful side-effects are teratogenicity and neuropathy. Development is a highly coordinated set of processes that depend on hierarchies of signaling and gene regulatory networks, and the disruption of such networks may underlie many cases of chemically induced birth defects. In this research, we compared the global gene expression responses by thalidomide in human placenta choriocarcinoma cell line (JEG-3) by using agilent human whole genome chip. Through the analysis of gene expression profiles, we identified 167 up-regulated genes and 56 down-regulated genes changed by thalidomide by more than 1.5-fold. And also functions related to genes expressed by thalidomide were apoptosis, angiogenesis, and cell adhesion. In summary, we examined genes and functions associated with teratogenic effects of thalidomide using global expression profiling and functional analysis. Thus, our data suggest that thalidomide may block angiogenesis signal pathway through inactivation of cell adhesion, and these anti-angiogenesis may be affected limb development.