Cortisol May Prevent Anticancer Effects of Testosterone on Colon Cancer (HT29) Cells in vitro

Background and Aim: Anticancer effects of androgens on colorectal cancer cells has been reported in clinical and experimental studies, however, few studies have been carried out on the anticancer effects of cortisol against colorectal cancer. We exerted the present study to determine the cytotoxic effects of cortisol and testosterone on colorectal cancer (HT29) cells in vitro.Methods: In this laboratory – experimental study colon cancer (HT29) cells were divided to control (untreated) group and groups exposed to different concentrations of cortisol, testosterone and “testosterone + cortisol”. Viability of cancer cells were measured using MTT assay method. The data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: The results of this study indicated that higher concentrations of testosterone (>125 μg/ml) has cytotoxic effects on colon cancer cells with a dose dependent patter. Treatment of colon cancer cells with different doses of cortisol (0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 μg/ml) did not show significant cytotoxic effects on colon cancer cells viability and treatment of the cells with 10000 μg/ml of cortisol with different testosterone concentrations indicated that cortisol prevents cytotoxic effects of higher testosterone concentrations (>250 μg/m) on colorectal cancer cells.Conclusion: We have shown that despite cortisol, testosterone has cytotoxic effects on colorectal cancer cells. Cortisol also can prevent anticancer effects of testosterone on colon cancer cells.

Keywords:

Cortisol , Testosterone , HT29 cell line , Viability