Department of Global Innovative Drugs, Graduate School of Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, South Korea.
Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, South Korea.
Sci Rep. 2023 Apr 17;13(1):6252. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33393-8.
Microplastics (MPs) are now a global issue due to increased plastic production and use. Recently, various studies have been performed in response to the human health risk assessment. However, these studies have focused on spherical MPs, which have smooth edges and a spherical shape and account for less than 1% of MPs in nature. Unfortunately, studies on fragment-type MPs are very limited and remain in the initial stages. In this study, we studied the effect that 16.4 µm fragment type polypropylene (PP) MPs, which have an irregular shape and sharp edges and form naturally in the environment, had on breast cancer. The detrimental effects of PPMPs on breast cancer metastasis were examined. Here, 1.6 mg/ml of PPMP, which does not induce cytotoxicity in MDA-MB-231, was used, and at this concentration, PPMP did not induce morphological changes or cellular migrating in the MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. However, PPMP incubation for 24 hours in the MDA-MB-231 cells significantly altered the level of cell cycle-related transcripts in an RNA-seq analysis. When confirmed by qRT-PCR, the gene expression of TMBIM6, AP2M1, and PTP4A2 was increased, while the transcript level of FTH1 was decreased. Further, secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 from cancer cells was elevated with the incubation of PPMP for 12 hours. These results suggest that PPMP enhances metastasis-related gene expression and cytokines in breast cancer cells, exacerbating breast cancer metastasis.
微塑料（MPs）由于塑料产量和使用量的增加，现在已经成为一个全球性问题。最近，针对人类健康风险评估，已经进行了各种研究。然而，这些研究集中在球形 MPs 上，它们具有光滑的边缘和球形，在自然界中所占比例不到 1%。不幸的是，关于碎片型 MPs 的研究非常有限，仍处于初始阶段。在这项研究中，我们研究了 16.4 µm 碎片型聚丙烯（PP）MPs 对乳腺癌的影响，这些 MPs 形状不规则，边缘锋利，在环境中自然形成。研究了 PPMP 对乳腺癌转移的有害影响。在这里，使用了 1.6 mg/ml 的 PPMP，它不会在 MDA-MB-231 中诱导细胞毒性，在该浓度下，PPMP 不会诱导 MDA-MB-231 和 MCF-7 细胞的形态变化或细胞迁移。然而，PPMP 在 MDA-MB-231 细胞中孵育 24 小时，在 RNA-seq 分析中显著改变了与细胞周期相关的转录本水平。通过 qRT-PCR 确认时，TMBIM6、AP2M1 和 PTP4A2 的基因表达增加，而 FTH1 的转录水平降低。此外，PPMP 孵育 12 小时后，癌细胞中促炎细胞因子 IL-6 的分泌增加。这些结果表明，PPMP 增强了乳腺癌细胞中与转移相关的基因表达和细胞因子，加剧了乳腺癌的转移。
