The Effects of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) on Human Malignant Mesotheliomal Cells

Abstract

It is widely accepted that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are associated with the acquisition of malignancy in cancer cells. The ROS are also known to contribute to the mesothelial carcinogenesis linked to asbestos exposure and accompanying inflammation. The present study was performed to determine the effects of ROS on the biological phenotypes of human malignant mesotheliomal (HMM) cells.HMM cell lines were cultured and treated with H2O2 at different concentrations, and subjected to the analysis of the cancer‐related characteristics. Treatment of HMM cells with H2O2 decreased cell survival. In wound healing assay, increased number of migrated cells was observed as H2O2 concentration increased. Clonogenicity assay revealed that the number of small sized colony was increased in a dose‐dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis by PI staining showed that H2O2 induce S phase arrest in HMM cells. The study results suggest that increase in ROS concentration to some extent influences the overall biological characteristics of HMM. Though treated H2O2 did not highly affect the viability of cells, it induced change in mobility, clone forming ability, and cell cycle distribution, indicating that ROS is not a passive bystander but a driving force of acquirement of aggressive phenotypes.This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant #: NRF‐2013R1A2A2A01068237)