BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is closely linked to inflammation, with interleukins such as interleukin-8 (IL-8) playing a key role in disease development and progression. While IL-8 has been implicated in tumor-promoting processes, its direct effects on lung cancer cell behavior remain incompletely characterized.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of IL-8 on cell viability and mRNA expression of pro-tumorigenic markers in A549 cells.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cell viability was measured using MTT assay. The mRNA expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1), and interleukin-1α (IL-1α) were examined by RT-qPCR.
RESULTS: Two-way analysis revealed significant main effects for both timepoint and concentration on cell viability. Post hoc testing showed that IL-8 stimulation (0.5 ng/mL) induced a significant increase in A549 cell viability at the 24-hour timepoint. In contrast, prolonged stimulation (0.5 ng/mL) at 48 hours resulted in a marked downward trend in cell viability, followed by a return to baseline levels at 72 hours, indicating a highly dynamic, time-dependent cellular profile. At the transcriptional level, an initial upward trend in MMP-7 gene expression at a low concentration was not statistically significant following variance stabilization. Similarly, no significant changes in CXCL1 or IL-1α expression profiles were observed across concentrations.
CONCLUSION: IL-8 was found to exert selective, context-dependent effects on A549 lung cancer cells, driving early viability shifts and an upregulatory trend in MMP-7 expression. These findings underscore the nuanced role of IL-8 in the tumor microenvironment and warrant future functional assays to fully elucidate its underlying mechanisms in lung cancer.
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.