Pan-European inter-laboratory studies on a panel of in vitro cytotoxicity and pro-inflammation assays for nanoparticles.

The rapid development of nanotechnologies and increased production and use of nanomaterials raise concerns about their potential toxic effects for human health and environment. To evaluate the biological effects of nanomaterials, a set of reliable and reproducible methods and development of standard operating procedures (SOPs) is required. In the framework of the European FP7 NanoValid project, three different cell viability assays (MTS, ATP content, and caspase-3/7 activity) with different readouts (absorbance, luminescence and fluorescence) and two immune assays (ELISA of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL1-ß and TNF-α) were evaluated by inter-laboratory comparison. The aim was to determine the suitability and reliability of these assays for nanosafety assessment. Studies on silver and copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs) were performed, and SOPs for particle handling, cell culture, and in vitro assays were established or adapted. These SOPs give precise descriptions of assay procedures, cell culture/seeding conditions, NPs/positive control preparation and dilutions, experimental well plate preparation, and evaluation of NPs interference. The following conclusions can be highlighted from the pan-European inter-laboratory studies: Testing of NPs interference with the toxicity assays should always be conducted. Interference tests should be designed as close as possible to the cell exposure conditions. ATP and MTS assays gave consistent toxicity results with low inter-laboratory variability using Ag and CuO NPs and different cell lines and therefore, could be recommended for further validation and standardization. High inter-laboratory variability was observed for Caspase 3/7 assay and ELISA for IL1-ß and TNF-α measurements.

The oxidative potential of differently charged silver and gold nanoparticles on three human lung epithelial cell types.

BACKGROUND: Nanoparticle (NPs) functionalization has been shown to affect their cellular toxicity. To study this, differently functionalized silver (Ag) and gold (Au) NPs were synthesised, characterised and tested using lung epithelial cell systems. METHODS: Monodispersed Ag and Au NPs with a size range of 7 to 10 nm were coated with either sodium citrate or chitosan resulting in surface charges from -50 mV to +70 mV. NP-induced cytotoxicity and oxidative stress were determined using A549 cells, BEAS-2B cells and primary lung epithelial cells (NHBE cells). TEER measurements and immunofluorescence staining of tight junctions were performed to test the growth characteristics of the cells. Cytotoxicity was measured by means of the CellTiter-Blue ® and the lactate dehydrogenase assay and cellular and cell-free reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured using the DCFH-DA assay. RESULTS: Different growth characteristics were shown in the three cell types used. A549 cells grew into a confluent mono-layer, BEAS-2B cells grew into a multilayer and NHBE cells did not form a confluent layer. A549 cells were least susceptible towards NPs, irrespective of the NP functionalization. Cytotoxicity in BEAS-2B cells increased when exposed to high positive charged (+65-75 mV) Au NPs. The greatest cytotoxicity was observed in NHBE cells, where both Ag and Au NPs with a charge above +40 mV induced cytotoxicity. ROS production was most prominent in A549 cells where Au NPs (+65-75 mV) induced the highest amount of ROS. In addition, cell-free ROS measurements showed a significant increase in ROS production with an increase in chitosan coating. CONCLUSIONS: Chitosan functionalization of NPs, with resultant high surface charges plays an important role in NP-toxicity. Au NPs, which have been shown to be inert and often non-cytotoxic, can become toxic upon coating with certain charged molecules. Notably, these effects are dependent on the core material of the particle, the cell type used for testing and the growth characteristics of these cell culture model systems.

A high-throughput screening method based on stably transformed human cells was used to determine the immunotoxic effects of fluoranthene and other PAHs.

Exogenous substances may compromise the human immune system, but immunotoxic effects of many pollutants have not been sufficiently determined thus far. It is often unknown which parameters should be taken into consideration when the immunotoxicity of a pollutant is analysed. Moreover, certain substances might only affect a primed immune system, but have no effect on healthy individuals. In order to analyse immunological responses caused by exposure to pollutants, a screening method has been established in our laboratory that uses a panel of stably transfected human cell lines containing promoter regions for different cytokines and chemokines. The luciferase sequence present at the 3' end of the promoter allows for the analysis of enzymatic luciferase activity. Four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were used to evaluate this screening assay. Moreover, we compared promoter induction with cytokine production and tested the effect of fluoranthene on primary lung epithelial cells. The results showed that the regulation of different promoter genes is pollutant specific and differs between individual PAHs, and that the regulation is affected by the presence of a pro-inflammatory stimulator. The use of a panel of human cell lines stably transfected with different cytokine promoters is an easy-to-use tool for screening in immunotoxicological studies and might decrease the number of animal tests for such studies.

Metformin inhibits proliferation and migration of glioblastoma cells independently of TGF-ß2.

To this day, glioblastoma (GBM) remains an incurable brain tumor. Previous research has shown that metformin, an oral anti-diabetic drug, may decrease GBM cell proliferation and migration especially in brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs). As transforming growth factor ß 2 (TGF-ß2) has been reported to promote high-grade glioma and is inhibited by metformin in other tumors, we explored whether metformin directly interferes with TGF-ß2-signaling. Functional investigation of proliferation and migration of primary BTICs after treatment with metformin+/-TGF-ß2 revealed that metformin doses as low as 0.01 mM metformin thrice a day were able to inhibit proliferation of susceptible cell lines, whereas migration was impacted only at higher doses. Known cellular mechanisms of metformin, such as increased lactate secretion, reduced oxygen consumption and activated AMPK-signaling, could be confirmed. However, TGF-ß2 and metformin did not act as functional antagonists, but both rather inhibited proliferation and/or migration, if significant effects were present. We did not observe a relevant influence of metformin on TGF-ß2 mRNA expression (qRT-PCR), TGF-ß2 protein expression (ELISA) or SMAD-signaling (Western blot). Therefore, it seems that metformin does not exert its inhibitory effects on GBM BTIC proliferation and migration by altering TGF-ß2-signaling. Nonetheless, as low doses of metformin are able to reduce proliferation of certain GBM cells, further exploration of predictors of BTICs' susceptibility to metformin appears justified.

Differential immunomodulatory responses to nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons applied by passive dosing.

Studying the effects of hydrophobic chemicals using in vitro cell based methods is hindered by the difficulty in bringing and keeping these chemicals in solution. Their effective concentrations are often lower than their nominal concentrations. Passive dosing is one approach that provides defined and stable dissolved concentrations during in vitro testing, and was applied to control and maintain freely dissolved concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at levels up to their aqueous solubility limit. The immunomodulatory effects of 9 different PAHs at aqueous solubility on human bronchial epithelial cells were determined by analysing the cytokine promoter expression of 4 different inflammatory cytokines using stably transfected recombinant A549 cell lines. Diverse immunomodulatory responses were found with the highest induction observed for the most hydrophobic PAHs chrysene, benzo(a)antracene and benzo(a)pyrene. Cytokine promoter expression was then studied in dose response experiments with acenaphthene, phenanthrene and benzo(a)anthracene. The strongest induction was observed for benzo(a)anthracene. Cell viability analysis was performed and showed that none of the PAHs induced cytotoxicity at any of the concentrations tested. Overall, this study shows that (1) immunomodulatory effects of PAHs can be studied in vitro at controlled freely dissolved concentrations, (2) the most hydrophobic PAHs were the strongest inducers and (3) induction was often higher at lower exposure levels and decreased then with concentration despite the apparent absence of cytotoxicity.