A new perspective for the treatment of human endometrial cancer

The endometrial cancer is one of the principal causes of death in women (Siegel et al., 2012). The main treatment for this cancer is hysterectomy that involves loss of fertility (Holland, 2008). If the tumor is not well defined and metastasizes, radio/chemo therapy are needed. The survival after chemotherapy is about 5-10 years, because it cannot kill all tumor cells. So, an isoform of manganese superoxide dismutase isolated from a human liposarcoma cell line, obtained as recombinant molecule (rMnSOD), which displayed oncotoxic action on cultured breast cancer cells (Mancini et al.,2006), was used to treat human endometrial cancer cells. This enzyme catalizes the dismutation of O2 – free radicals in H2O2, preventing the accumulation of ROS. H2O2 can be further converted into H2O and O2 by catalase and ⁄or glutathione peroxidase. Once rMnSOD penetrates cancer cells, it transforms free radicals into H2O2. This, in neoplastic cells, may lead to an high accumulation of H2O2 that causes apoptosis of them, because of their lower level of catalase (Mancini et al., 2008). We evaluated the effects of the rMnSOD treatment on cultured human endometrial adenocarcinoma cell line HTB-112. We demonstrated the oncotoxic effect of this protein, which lead HTB/112 cells to apoptotic death, by immunocytochemistry at light and electron microscopy and by comet assay test, which shows early DNA damage induced by the accumulation of H2O2. References: Siegel CA 62, 10–29; 2012; Holland Clin Oncol 20:448-56 2008 ; Mancini Int J Cancer, 119: 932–943¸ 2006.