Cadmium is a ubiquitous environmental human carcinogen. Epidemiological and animal studies have suggested its carcinogenic potential on the prostate. In the present study, non-tumorigenic human prostate epithelial cells (pRNS-1-1) immortalized by simian papovavirus (SV40) were transformed after repeated exposures to cadmium. Such transformants showed morphological alterations, anchorage-independent growth in soft agar, and formed tumors when transplanted into SCID mice. The tumors were characterized histologically as poorly-differentiated adenocarcinomas, expressing prostate-specific antigen (PSA), androgen receptor (AR), prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), NKX3.1 and cytokeratin 8 (CK8). These findings provide evidence of malignant transformation of human prostate epithelial cells exposed to this environmentally important chemical.
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Nakamura et al. (2002) studied this question.