Determination of the Cytotoxicity of Capsaicin and its Effects on Caspase-3 in the Clones Selected from H2452 Mesothelioma Cell Line

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the mesothelium tissue that covers the surface of the internal organs such as the heart, lungs and abdomen, and its tumors are thought to have polyclonal origin. Apoptotic effects of capsaicin on cancer cells are known. In this study; we tried to determine the cytotoxicity of capsaicin and its effects on caspase-3 expression and activation on four (clone-I, -II, -III and -IV) clones selected from the H2452 mesothelioma cell line. For this purpose; firstly, capsaicin cytotoxicity, i.e. IC50 values of clones were determined by the method of reduction of MTS [3- (4,5) -dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -5- (3-carboxymethoxyphenyl) -2- (4-sulfophenyl) -2H-tetrazolium] salt to formazan. It has been demonstrated that the type of the clones was affecting the IC50’s of capsaicin statistically significantly (p <0.01). Subsequently, capsaicin was applied to selected clones at an average concentration of IC50 (251.6 µM) and cell growth curves were plotted. Accordingly; after 72 hours of capsaicin treatment, clone-I was observed to contain a higher number of viable cells (p <0.001) than other clones. By qRT-PCR and Western blotting performed following the application, mRNA and protein levels of caspase-3 molecule were determined in capsaicin-treated (KAP), ethanol-treated (EtOH) and untreated control cells. As a result, the capsaicin cytotoxicity was found to differ significantly between the selected clones, and the amount of inactive and active forms of the caspase-3 protein and the relative caspase-3 mRNA levels showed different results for each clone. When all the findings were evaluated together, the idea that the cell populations forming mesothelioma tumors may have a polyclonal origin appears to be supported.