title: Anticancer properties of chitosan on human melanoma are cell line dependent.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chitosan, a natural macromolecule, is widely used in medical and pharmaceutical fields because of its distinctive properties such as bactericide, fungicide and above all its antitumor effects. Although its antitumor activity against different types of cancer had been previously described, its mechanism of action was not fully understood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Coating of chitosan has been used in cell cultures with A375, SKMEL28, and RPMI7951 cell lines. Adherence, proliferation and apoptosis were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results revealed that whereas chitosan decreased adhesion of primary melanoma A375 cell line and decreased proliferation of primary melanoma SKMEL28 cell line, it had potent pro-apoptotic effects against RPMI7951, a metastatic melanoma cell line. In these latter cells, inhibition of specific caspases confirmed that apoptosis was effected through the mitochondrial pathway and Western blot analyses showed that chitosan induced an up regulation of pro-apoptotic molecules such as Bax and a down regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins like Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL. More interestingly, chitosan exposure induced an exposition of a greater number of CD95 receptor at RPMI7951 surface, making them more susceptible to FasL-induced apoptosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that chitosan could be a promising agent for further evaluations in antitumor treatments targeting melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada.
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gibot
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chabaud
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bouhout
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolduc
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: François A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Auger
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Organogenese Experimentale de l'Universite Laval/LOEX, Division of Regenerative Medicine, CHU de Quebec research center/FRQS, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Laval, Quebec city, Canada; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada. Electronic address: veronique.moulin@chg.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Véronique J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Moulin
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Apoptosis; Chitosan; Melanoma