Investigation of Cadmium Chloride Cytotoxic Effect in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line

Abstract

Background: Cadmium is a heavy metal widely used in industry and a major environmental pollutant which cytotoxic effects in different cell lines were investigated. MCF-7 cell line is one of breast cancer cell lines which cadmium effects have not been studied on it, so far. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects of cadmium chloride in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Methods: First, the MCF-7 cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 (Roswell Park Memorial Institute) medium, at 37◦C in a 5% CO2, 95% air-humidified incubator. Then, the cells were transferred to a 96-well plate with various concentrations of cadmium chloride (0.1-1000 μM) and treated for 48 hours. Percentage of cell viability was measured via MTT assay [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide]. Also, microscopic studies of cadmium chloride-treated cells apoptosis were performed using Hoechst 33342 fluorescent dye and were observed via fluorescence microscopy. Findings: Increasing cadmium chloride concentration significantly decreased the percentage of living cells compared to the control groups (P < 0.05). The viability reducing started in concentration of 25 μM and reached to its maximum in concentrations of 1000 μM. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that cadmium have cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cell line in concentrations higher than 25 μM. In addition, the study showed that cell death induced mechanism by cadmium is apoptosis.

Keywords

• Cadmium chloride
• Breast cancer
• MCF-7 cell line
• Cytotoxicity