ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) on the stemness of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines, which may provide experimental basis and reference significance for the application of nanoparticles in the treatment of EOC. METHODS: SKOV3 and HO8910 cell lines were treated with IONPs and PBNPs respectively, then the drug-resistant genes in mRNA and protein levels were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. The change of cell proliferation ability were detected by cell proliferation and clone formation experiments, and the expression of surface stemness-related molecules were detected by flow cytometer. RESULTS: The expression of ABCG2 and ALDH1A1 were both down regulated in SKOV3 and HO8910 cell lines treated with IONPs and PBNPs, respectively, while IONPs decreased the CD44+CD117+ subpopulation, and PBNPs increased the CD44+CD117+ subpopulation. Compared with the control cells, the proliferation of SKOV3 cells treated with IONPs and PBNPs were significantly reduced, however, there were no effects on HO8910 cell's proliferation after the cells treated with PBNPs. CONCLUSION: Drug-resistance genes and stem cell subpopulation of EOC SKOV3/HO8910 cell lines treated with IONPs were markedly reduced. However, PBNPs can improve the stem cell subpopulation and promote the cancer stem cell's characteristic of EOC cells but the drug-resistance genes were decreased.