Cerium Lanthanide Effect on Growth of AGS Cell Line with the Presence of Transferrin in Vitro

Cerium is a trace element and a member of the lanthanide group. Cerium cation is similar to ferric ions with regard to transferring binding, suggesting transferrin-receptor mediated transport could be possible to uptake the element. Therefore the aim of the present study was to survey of cytotoxic activity of cerium in the presence of transferring on growth of adenocarcinoma gastric stomach (AGS) cell line in vitro. Adenocarcinoma gastric stomach cells obtained from Pasteur institute were cultured on RPMI-1640 medium and the effect of cerium lanthanide with 0.1, 1, 10, 100 (µM) concentration with and without transferrin in 24 h and 48 h incubation periods was investigated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-Yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. The results obtained from LDH assay showed that cerium without transferrin and cerium with transferrin decreased survival AGS cells significantly. Also results obtained from MTT assay showed that cerium without transferrin and cerium with transferrin decreased survival AGS cells significantly. In our results cerium could induce the inhibition of cell growth but the percent of growth inhibition could be higher with presence of transferrin. Our results indicate that at a certain concentration, the cerium compounds could inhibit the growth of cancer cells.