AUTHOR=Aubry Lise , Vallion Romain , Salman Sara , Damiens Marie-Hélène , Ferret Pierre-Jacques , Kerdine-Römer Saadia TITLE=Ethylhexadecyldimethylammonium bromide, a quaternary ammonium compound, controls inflammatory response through NRF2 pathway in a human immortalized keratinocyte cell line JOURNAL=Frontiers in Toxicology VOLUME=5 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/toxicology/articles/10.3389/ftox.2023.1132020 DOI=10.3389/ftox.2023.1132020 ISSN=2673-3080 ABSTRACT=
Many everyday products contain quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) and some of them are known to be skin irritants such as benzalkonium chloride. Others, such as didecyldimethylammonium chloride, have been shown to cause allergic contact dermatitis. Ethylhexadecyldimethylammonium bromide (EHD) is a QAC for which sensitization potential is not clearly known. Therefore, we have studied its mechanism in human keratinocytes (KC), the main cells of the epidermis. We used the well-described human KC cell line KERTr exposed to EHD, cinnamaldehyde (CinA), a well-known skin sensitizer, and a mixture of both. Since chemical sensitizers are known to activate the transcription factor nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (NRF2), leading to cellular detoxification and suppressed proinflammatory cytokines, protein or mRNA expression of NRF2 pathway-related enzymes and pro-inflammatory cytokines were investigated by Western blot and RT-qPCR. The activity of the NRF2 pathway on inflammation was studied by RT-qPCR in