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Tumorigenic polyploid cells contain elevated ROS and ARE selectively targeted by antioxidant treatment
Author(s) -
Roh Meejeon,
van der Meer Riet,
Abdulkadir Sarki A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.22793
Subject(s) - polyploid , reactive oxygen species , biology , ploidy , microbiology and biotechnology , mitosis , cancer cell , genetics , cancer , gene
Polyploidy has been linked to tumorigenicity mainly due to the chromosomal aberrations. Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, on the other hand, has also been associated with oncogenic transformation in most cancer cells. However, a possible link between ploidy and ROS is largely unexplored. Here we have examined the role of ROS in the tumorigenicity of polyploid cells. We show that polyploid prostate and mammary epithelial cells contain higher levels of ROS due to their higher mitochondrial contents. ROS levels and mitochondrial mass are also higher in dihydrocytochalasin B (DCB)‐induced polyploid cells, suggesting that higher levels of ROS observed in polyploid cell can occur due to cytokinesis failure. Interestingly, polyploid cells were more sensitive to the inhibitory effect of the antioxidant, N‐Acetyl‐L‐cysteine (NAC), than control diploid cells. Treatment of polyploid/diploid cells with NAC led to the selective elimination of polyploid cells over time and abrogated the tumorigenicity of polyploid cells. This effect was partially mediated via the Akt signaling pathway. We next explored a possible role for ROS in promoting chromosomal instability by analyzing the effects of ROS on the mitotic stage of the cell cycle. Enhancing ROS levels by treating cells with hydrogen peroxide delayed not only entry into and but also exit from mitosis. Furthermore, increasing ROS levels significantly increased taxol resistance. Our results indicated that increased ROS in polyploid cells can contribute to tumorigenicity and highlight the therapeutic potential of antioxidants by selectively targeting the tumorigenic polyploid cells and by reversing taxol resistance. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 801–812, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.