An Evaluation of the Anti-Carcinogenic Response of Major Isothiocyanates in Non-Metastatic and Metastatic Melanoma Cells

Authors

Melina Mitsiogianni, Northumbria UniversityFollow
Sotiris Kyriakou, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology & Genetics & The Cyprus School of Molecular MedicineFollow
Ioannis Anestopoulos, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology & Genetics & The Cyprus School of Molecular MedicineFollow
Dimitrios T. Trafalis, University of AthensFollow
Maria V. Deligiorgi, National & Kapodistrian University of AthensFollow
Rodrigo Franco, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Aglaia Pappa, Democritus University of ThraceFollow
Mihalis I. Panayiotidi, Northumbria University & The Cyprus Institute of Neurology & Genetics & The Cyprus School of Molecular MedicineFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2021

Citation

Mitsiogianni, M.; Kyriakou, S.; Anestopoulos, I.; Trafalis, D.T.; Deligiorgi, M.V.; Franco, R.; Pappa, A.; Panayiotidis, M.I. An Evaluation of the Anti-Carcinogenic Response of Major Isothiocyanates in Non-Metastatic and Metastatic Melanoma Cells. Antioxidants 2021, 10, 284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ antiox10020284

Comments

2021 by the authors.

Abstract

Malignant melanoma is one of the most deadly types of solid cancers, a property mainly attributed to its highly aggressive metastatic form. On the other hand, different classes of isothiocy- anates, a class of phytochemicals, present in cruciferous vegetables have been characterized by considerable anti-cancer activity in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models. In the current study, we investigated the anti-cancer response of five isothiocyanates in an in vitro model of melanoma consisting of non-metastatic (A375, B16F-10) and metastatic (VMM1, Hs294T) malignant melanoma as well as non-melanoma epidermoid carcinoma (A431) and non-tumorigenic melanocyte-neighboring keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. Our aim was to compare different endpoints of cytotoxicity (e.g., reactive oxygen species, intracellular glutathione content, cell cycle growth arrest, apoptosis and necrosis) descriptive of an anti-cancer response between non-metastatic and metastatic melanoma as well as non-melanoma epidermoid carcinoma and non-tumorigenic cells. Our results showed that exposure to isothiocyanates induced an increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species and glutathione contents between non-metastatic and metastatic melanoma cells. The distribution of cell cycle phases followed a similar pattern in a manner where non-metastatic and metastatic melanoma cells appeared to be growth arrested at the G2/M phase while elevated levels of metastatic melanoma cells were shown to be at sub G1 phase, an indicator of necrotic cell death. Finally, metastatic melanoma cells were more sensitive apoptosis and/or necrosis as higher levels were observed compared to non-melanoma epidermoid carcinoma and non-tumorigenic cells. In general, non-mela- noma epidermoid carcinoma and non-tumorigenic cells were more resistant under any experimental exposure condition. Overall, our study provides further evidence for the potential development of isothiocyanates as promising anti-cancer against non-metastic and metastatic melanoma cells, a property specific for these cells and not shared by non-melanoma epidermoid carcinoma or non-tumorigenic melanocyte cells.