Classification of Environmental Toxicants Using HazChem Human Array V2

Abstract

Toxicogenomics using microarray technology offers the ability to conduct large-scale detections and quantifications of mRNA transcripts, particularly those associated with alterations in mRNA stability or gene regulation. In this study, we developed the HazChem Human Array V2 using the Agilent Sure-Print technology-based custom array, which is expected to facilitate the identification of environmental toxicants. The array was manufactured using 600 VOCs and PAHs-specific genes identified in previous studies. In order to evaluate the viability of the manufactured HazChem human array V2, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of 9 environmental toxicants (6 VOCs chemicals and 3 PAHs chemicals). As a result, nine toxicants were separated into two chemical types-VOCs and PAHs. After the chip validations with VOCs and PAHs, we conducted an expression profiling comparison of additional chemical groups (POPs and EDCs) using data analysis methods such as hierarchical clustering, 1-way ANOVA, SAM, and PCA. We selected 58 genes that could be classified into four chemical types via statistical methods. Additionally, we selected 63 genes that evidenced significant alterations in expression with all 13 environmental toxicants. These results suggest that the HazChem Human Array V2 will expedite the development of a screening system for environmentally hazardous materials at the level of toxicogenomics in the future.