PCBs, a group of 209 individual congeners, are ubiquitous environmental pollutants and classified as probable human carcinogens. One major route of exposure is by inhalation of these industrial compounds, possibly daily from inner city air and/or indoor air in contaminated buildings. Hallmarks of aging and carcinogenesis are changes in telomere length and telomerase activity. We hypothesize that semi-volatile PCBs, like those found in inner city air, are capable of disrupting telomerase activity and altering telomere length. To explore this possibility, we exposed human skin keratinocytes to a synthetic Chicago Airborne Mixture (CAM) of PCBs, or the prominent airborne PCB congeners, PCB28 or PCB52 for up to 48 days and determined telomerase activity, telomere length, cell proliferation, and cell cycle distribution. PCBs 28, 52 and CAM significantly reduced telomerase activity from days 18–48. Telomere length was shortened by PCB52 from day 18 and PCB28 and CAM from days 30 on. All PCBs decreased cell proliferation from day 18; only PCB52 produced a small increase of cells in G0/G1 of the cell cycle. This significant inhibition of telomerase activity and reduction of telomere length by PCB congeners suggest a potential mechanism by which these compounds could lead to accelerated aging and cancer.

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), ubiquitous environmental pollutants, are characterized by long term-persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification in the food chain. Exposure to PCBs may cause various diseases, affecting many cellular processes. Deregulation of the telomerase and the telomere complex leads to several biological disorders. We investigated the hypothesis that PCB153 modulates telomerase activity, telomeres and reactive oxygen species resulting in the deregulation of cell growth. Exponentially growing immortal human skin keratinocytes (HaCaT) and normal human foreskin keratinocytes (NFK) were incubated with PCB153 for 48 and 24 days, respectively, and telomerase activity, telomere length, superoxide level, cell growth, and cell cycle distribution were determined. In HaCaT cells exposure to PCB153 significantly reduced telomerase activity, telomere length, cell growth and increased intracellular superoxide levels from day 6 to day 48, suggesting that superoxide may be one of the factors regulating telomerase activity, telomere length and cell growth compared to untreated control cells. Results with NFK cells showed no shortening of telomere length but reduced cell growth and increased superoxide levels in PCB153-treated cells compared to untreated controls. As expected, basal levels of telomerase activity were almost undetectable, which made a quantitative comparison of treated and control groups impossible. The significant down regulation of telomerase activity and reduction of telomere length by PCB153 in HaCaT cells suggest that any cell type with significant telomerase activity, like stem cells, may be at risk of premature telomere shortening with potential adverse health effects for the affected organism.

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PCBs are persistent organic pollutants with carcinogenic, immune- and developmental toxicity. This suggests that they may interfere with normal cell maturation. Cancer and stem/progenitor cells have telomerase activity to maintain and protect the chromosome ends, but lose this activity during differentiation. We hypothesized that PCBs interfere with telomerase activity and the telomere complex thereby disturbing cell differentiation and stem/progenitor cell function. HL-60 cells are cancer cells that can differentiate to granulocytes and monocytes. We exposed HL-60 cells to the PCB126 (dioxin-like) and PCB153 (non-dioxin-like) 6 days before and during 3 days of differentiation. The differentiated cells showed G0/G1 phase arrest and very low telomerase activity. hTERT and hTR, two telomerase-related genes, were down-regulated. The telomere shelterins TRF1, TRF2, and POT were upregulated in granulocytes, TRF2 was up- and POT1 downregulated in monocytes. Both PCBs reduced telomerase activity in undifferentiated cells and further reduced telomerase activity in differentiated cells, but had only small effects on the differentiation and telomere-related genes. Long term treatment of undifferentiated HL-60 cells with PCB126 produced a downregulation of telomerase activity and decrease of hTERT, hTR, TRF1, and POT1 gene expression. With PCB153 the effects were less pronounced and some shelterin genes were increased after 30 days exposure. With each PCB no differentiation of cells was observed and cells continued to proliferate despite reduced telomerase activity, resulting in shortened telomeres after 30 days of exposure. These results indicate cell type and PCB congener specific effects on telomeres/telomerase-related genes and, although PCBs do not seem to strongly affect differentiation, they could influence the longevity of stem or progenitor cells through telomere attrition with potential long-term consequences for health.