The possibility of benomyl and diazinon pesticide’s carcinogenicity and the potential of hotair and H19 as a serum biomarker in breast cancer

Abstract

Evidence had grown ever stronger that pesticides can cause epigenetic modifications such as changing the expression of noncoding RNAs which have positive associations with incidence of cancer. Upregulation of two oncogenic long non coding RNAs, HOX antisense intergenic RNA and H19, enhances breast cancer. This study was conducted to investigate and compare the effect of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (proven to cause breast cancer) with two commonly used pesticides named benomyl and diazinon (suspected of developing breast cancer) on the expression level of HOX antisense intergenic RNA and H19. Mice were intragastrically exposed to 7,12-dimethylbenzathracene, diazinon and benomyl for 60 days. The expression level of H19 and HOX antisense intergenic RNA were measured by Real-Time PCR. The findings revealed that the expression of long non coding RNAs in pesticides and 7,12-dimethylbenzathracene treated mice were significantly higher than untreated control. This study, for the first time, has demonstrated that diazinon and benomyl pesticides could cause upregulation of both oncogenic H19 and HOX antisense intergenic RNA. Since 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene induced breast tumors, similar results of all three experimental groups could be a testimony to the carcinogenicity of these pesticides and provides support for the importance of these noncoding RNAs as a target for therapeutic intervention in breast cancer.