Assessing the double‐edged of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase/CCAAT‐enhancer‐binding protein beta signaling pathway in arsenic‐induced skin damage and its potential foodborne interventions

Arsenic exposure is a major environmental public health challenge worldwide. As typical manifestations for arsenic exposure, the pathogenesis of arsenic-induced skin lesions has not been fully elucidated, as well as the lack of effective control measures. In this study, we first determined the short-term and high-dose arsenic exposure can increase the apoptosis rates, while long-term low-dose arsenic exposure decrease the apoptosis rates. Then, the HaCaT cells with knockdown and overexpression of CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein β (CEBPB) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) were constructed. The results demonstrate that knockdown of CEBPB and ERK can reduce NaAsO2 -induced cell apoptosis by inhibiting ERK/CEBPB signaling pathway and vice versa. Further cells were treated with Kaji-Ichigoside F1 (KF1). The results clearly show that KF1 can decrease the arsenic-induced cell apoptosis rates and the expression of ERK/CEBPB signaling pathway-related genes. These results provide evidence that ERK/CEBPB signaling pathway acts as a double-edged sword in arsenic-induced skin damage. Another interesting finding was that KF1 can alleviate arsenic-induced skin cell apoptosis by inhibiting the ERK/CEBPB signaling pathway. This study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of arsenic-induced skin cell apoptosis, and our findings will help to identify a potential food-borne intervention in arsenic detoxification.