Hydrocarbon effects on cell survival and antioxidant system of breast tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic cells.

Over the last decades, environmental pollution with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) has risen due to human development and industrial activities. The consequences of potential contamination with oil or any of its components must be evaluated. Here, we faced the effects on cell growth and detoxification that might arise from the exposure to hydrocarbons sourced from contaminated waters. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells and/or MCF-10A epithelial non-tumorigenic cells were exposed to water-accommodated oil fraction (WAF) or anthracene as a PAH currently found in the environment to evaluate clonogenicity, viability, GST and CAT activities. WAF decreased MDA-MB-231 cells clonogenicity and MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells viability. Anthracene significantly reduced non-tumorigenic cells viability and clonogenicity, without affecting the survival of tumorigenic cells. Both tumorigenic cells responded mainly by activating the antioxidant system through the increment of CAT when exposed to low concentrations of WAF. In both cell lines, WAF also increased GST. Anthracene exposure significantly decreased CAT activity of the three cell lines evaluated. GST activity decreased 38% after 28 {micro}M anthracene exposure in MDA-MB-231 cells (p<0.05) and 15, 17 and 21% after 7 (p<0.05), 14 and 28 {micro}M (p<0.01) in MCF-10A cells, while in MCF-7 cells 28 {micro}M anthracene increased GST activity by 75% (p<0.001). We conclude that the sensitivity of cells to the different contaminants evaluated is affected by the degree of cellular tumorigenicity and exposure to WAF or anthracene may exacerbate malignant conditions. The integration of multiple parameters, analyzed through multivariate methods, offers a comprehensive evaluation of toxicant effects. HIGHLIGHTSO_LIWAF and anthracene affect tumorigenic mammary cells viability and clonogenicity C_LIO_LINon tumorigenic mammary cells show more sensitivity to anthracene exposure C_LIO_LIWAF activates antioxidant and detoxicant system in tumorigenic mammary cells C_LIO_LIAnthracene decreased CAT activity of tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic mammary cells C_LIO_LIAnthracene affected GST activity of tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic mammary cells C_LI