The Influence of N-Acetyl-selenomethionine on Two RONS-Generating Cancer Cell Lines Compared to N-Acetyl-methionine

• Published in: Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 937
• Main Authors: Greilberger, Joachim, Stiegler, Philipp, Greilberger, Michaela, Wintersteiger, Reinhold
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.06.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; Antibiotics; Antioxidants; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Caspase 3 - metabolism; Caspase-3; caspase-3 activity; Cell culture; Cell death; Cell growth; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell membranes; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Chromosomes; Cytotoxicity; Experiments; Humans; Jurkat Cells; Leukemia; Lung cancer; medullary thyroid carcinoma cells (MTC-SK); Methionine; Methionine - analogs & derivatives; Methionine - metabolism; Methionine - pharmacology; Mitochondria; Mitochondria - drug effects; Mitochondria - metabolism; N-Acetyl-L-methionine; N-Acetyl-L-methionine (NALM); N-acetyl-selenomethionine (NASeLM); Prevention; Proteins; Reagents; Selenium; Selenium compounds; Selenomethionine; Selenomethionine - pharmacology; T-cell leukemia cells (Jurkat cells); Thyroid gland; Tumor cell lines; Austria; United States > US; Germany; Vienna Austria; T-cell leukemia cells (Jurkat cells); N-Acetyl-L-methionine (NALM); medullary thyroid carcinoma cells (MTC-SK); caspase-3 activity; N-acetyl-selenomethionine (NASeLM); cell growth; mitochondrial activity
• ISSN: 2073-4409; 2073-4409
• DOI: 10.3390/cells13110937

N-acetyl-selenomethionine (NASeLM), a representative of the selenium compounds, failed to convince in clinical studies and cell cultures that it neither inhibits cancer growth nor has a chemoprotective effect. This study aims to find out whether NASeLM shows a growth-inhibiting property compared to the carrier substance N-Acetyl-L-methionine (NALM) on two different cancer cells, namely Jurkat cells and MTC-SK cells. Jurkat and MTC-SK cells were cultured in the absence or presence of varying concentrations (0-500 µg/mL) of NASeLM and NALM solutions. After 0, 24, 48, and 72 h, mitochondrial activity, cancer cell membrane CP levels, cell growth, and caspase-3 activity were assessed in aliquots of Jurkat and MTC-SK cells. Both substances, NASeLM and NALM, were similarly able to inhibit cell growth and mitochondrial activity of Jurkat cells in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner up to 70%. Only the determination of caspase activity showed that only NASeLM was able to increase this to almost 40% compared to the control as well as the same lack of NALM. However, the experiments on MTC-SK cells showed a clear difference in favor of NASeLM compared to NALM. While NASeLM was able to reduce cell growth to up to 55%, the same amount of NALM was only at around 15%, which turned out to be highly significant ( < 0.001). The same could also be measured for the reduction in MTC-SK mitochondrial activity. Time dependence could also be recognized: the longer both substances, NASeLM and NALM, were incubated, the higher the effect on cell growth and mitochondrial activity, in favour of NASeLM. Only NASeLM was able to increase caspase-3 activity in MTC-SK cells: at 250 µg/mL NASeLM, caspase-3 activity increased significantly to 28% after 24 and 48 h compared to the control (14%) or the same NALM concentration (14%). After 72 h, this could still increase to 37%. A further increase in the NASeLM concentration did not result in higher caspase-3 activity. NASeLM could clearly increase caspase-3 activity in both cell types, Jurkat or MTC-SK cells, and thus induce cell death. NALM and NASeLM showed a reduction in cell growth and mitochondrial activity in both cell lines: While NALM and NASeLM showed almost identical measurements on Jurkat cells, NASeLM was much more effective on MTC-SK than the non-selenium-containing carrier, indicating that it has additional anti-chemoprotective effects.