TY - JOUR T1 - Elevated <em>ERCC1</em> Gene Expression in Blood Cells Associated with Exposure to Arsenic from Drinking Water in Inner Mongolia JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 3253 LP - 3259 VL - 29 IS - 8 AU - JINYAO MO AU - YAJUAN XIA AU - ZHIXIONG NING AU - TIMOTHY J. WADE AU - JUDY L. MUMFORD Y1 - 2009/08/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/29/8/3253.abstract N2 - Background: Chronic arsenic exposure has been associated with human cancer. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of arsenic exposure on a DNA nucleotide excision repair gene, ERCC1, expression in human blood cells. Patients and Methods: Water and toenail samples were collected from a total of 327 Inner Mongolian residents for arsenic analysis. Blood samples were collected to determine mRNA expression levels by real-time PCR. Results: The mRNA levels of ERCC1 expression were positively associated with water arsenic concentration (slope=0.313, p=0.0043) and nail arsenic concentration (slope=0.474, p=0.0073). mRNA levels of ERCC1 expression were significantly correlated with those of OGG1, a base pair excision repair gene (r=0.275, p&lt;0.0001). Conclusion: The results showed that mRNA levels of ERCC1 expression were significantly associated with arsenic concentrations in drinking water, implicating the DNA repair response was induced by arsenic exposure. ER -