Acute exposure to diesel particulate matter promotes collective cell migration in thyroid cancer cells

• Published in: Frontiers in toxicology 2023-11, Vol.5, p.1294760-1294760
• Main Authors: Cheng, Sheena Yi-Hsin, Huang, Shih-Yuan, Cheng, Shih-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: air pollution; collective cell migration; fine particulate matter; thyroid cancer; Toxicology; Wound Healing Assay
• ISSN: 2673-3080; 2673-3080
• DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2023.1294760

Several ecological studies suggest that ambient air pollution is associated with the occurrence of thyroid cancer. In this study, we used certified diesel particulate matter as a proxy for fine particulate matter. Human thyroid cancer cell lines 8505C and TPC-1 were incubated with different concentrations of NIST1650b for 5 days and subjected to functional assays. We found that NIST1650b treatment did not affect short-term cell growth but reduced colony formation at high concentrations. Notably, NIST1650b-treated cells showed altered morphology toward cluster coalescence following treatment. Wound healing assays revealed that leading-edge cells formed protruding tips while maintaining cell-cell adhesion, and a significantly higher ratio of wound closure following treatment at 10 μg/mL was seen in both cell lines. A weak stimulatory effect on transwell cell migration was observed in 8505C cells. Taken together, our results suggest that fine particulate matter induced a coherent phenotype accompanied by augmented collective cell migration in thyroid cancer cells.