The impact of photobiomodulation therapy on the biology and behavior of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas cell lines

Manoela Domingues Martins; Felipe Martins Silveira; Liana Preto Webber; Vivian Petersen Wagner; Marco Antonio Trevizani Martins; Cristiane Helena Squarize; Rogerio Moraes Castilho

doi:10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2020.111924

The impact of photobiomodulation therapy on the biology and behavior of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas cell lines

J Photochem Photobiol B. 2020 Aug:209:111924. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2020.111924. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Authors

Manoela Domingues Martins¹, Felipe Martins Silveira², Liana Preto Webber³, Vivian Petersen Wagner¹, Marco Antonio Trevizani Martins³, Cristiane Helena Squarize⁴, Rogerio Moraes Castilho⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, Brazil; Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
² Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, Brazil.
³ Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁴ Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁵ Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: rcastilh@umich.edu.

PMID: 32570058
DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2020.111924

Abstract

Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) is an emerging therapeutic modality designed to prevent and treat chemotherapy-driven oral mucositis (OM). However, the response of tumor cells to the effects of PBMT remains poorly understood. Our study explores the effects of PBMT in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) based on cellular proliferation, migration, and survival of tumor cells and its population of cancer stem cells (CSC). We explored the behavior of two HNSCC cell lines (HN6 and HN13) under two distinct conditions, a physiological growing condition (10% FBS), and under stress growing condition (2% FBS) prior to irradiation using diode laser (InGaAlP; MM Optics, São Carlos, SP, Brazil). Diode laser (660 nm) was applied with a power of 100 mW delivering a total energy per point of 0.24 J. MTT and wound healing test (scratch assay) were performed to evaluate, respectively, proliferation and migration of tumor cells. Clonogenic and spheres formation assays were also performed to evaluate the survival and percentage of CSC upon irradiation. Overall, we observed that PBMT does not exacerbate the behavior of HNSCC. We could only observe a decrease in cellular proliferation of one cell line (HN6) when cultured under nutritional stress conditions (p < .05). There were no significant differences between the control and the PBMT groups regarding cell migration, survival and the percentage of CSC. Collectively, our results suggest that in vitro administration of PBMT to HNSCC does not modify the behavior of tumor cells.

Keywords: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; Low-level light therapy; Oral Mucositis; Photobiomodulation.

MeSH terms

Cell Line, Tumor
Cell Movement / radiation effects
Head and Neck Neoplasms / pathology
Head and Neck Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
Humans
Low-Level Light Therapy / methods*
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / pathology
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / radiotherapy*