Life Sciences Commons^™

Investigation Of The Mechanism Underlying Arsenic Disruption Of Mast Cell Degranulation, Alejandro Velez

Honors College

Exposure to arsenic (As) is a global health concern, according to the World Health Organization and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Prolonged exposure to this naturally occurring chemical has been linked to hyperkeratosis, type II diabetes, developmental abnormalities, and cancer. Some of the adverse health effects of As may be linked to its ability to alter cellular signal transduction. Recently, published work from the Gosse laboratory has shown that inorganic arsenite inhibits the signaling cascade leading to mast cell degranulation, a vital immune function, through an as-yet unknown mechanism.
Further work in the Gosse lab has suggested that …