Influences of arsenic trioxide on lung cancer cell line NCI-H520

Objective To explore the proliferation inhibition effect and the apoptosis-promoting effect of arsenic trioxide at different concentrations with different action time points.Methods Human lung cancer NCI-H520 cells were treated with serial concentrations of arsenic trioxide at 1.0,2.0,3.0,6.0,10.0 μmol/L for 24,48 and 72 h.The untreated cells were used as negative control.The proliferation of cells was tested by methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay,and the flow cytometry was used to measure the apoptosis of cells treated with arsenic trioxide at different concentrations and action times.Results The F values of One-Way ANOVA were 109.9,139.7 and 191.1 after NCI-H520 cells treated with different concentrations of arsenic trioxide for 24,48 and 72 h (P ＜ 0.05).1.0 μmol/L arsenic trioxide showed no obvious apoptosis-promoting effect,but after treatment of NCI-H520 cells with 2.0,3.0 and 6.0 μmol/L for24,48 and 72 h,the apoptosis rate was 5.92％,8.91％ and 15.10％; 7.55％,14.31％ and 35.17％ ; and 19.8％,39.87％ and 63.66％,respectively.Conclusion The proliferation inhibition effect of arsenic trioxide is increased in a time-and concentration-dependent manner.Besides,arsenic trioxide can significantly increase the apoptosis rate of NCI-H520 cells. Key words: Lung cancer;  Arsenic trioxide ;  Proliferation inhibition;  Apoptosis