Heterogeneous effects of bradykinin and a23187 on glioma growth, migration and invasion

To evaluate the role of receptor interaction and calcium mobilization in growth of gliomas, we examined the effects of bradykinin (BK) and the calcium ionophore A23187 on growth, migration and invasion of the continuous human glioma cell lines GaMG, D37-MG and D54-MG. BK induced a transient increase in intracellular calcium concentration only in D54-MG. A23187 but not BK inhibited glioma proliferation both during monolayer and spheroid growth. Migration of cells from glioma spheroids was slightly inhibited in GaMG both in response to BK and A23187. No effects were seen in D37-MG or D54-MG. Both BK and A23187 inhibited the glioma invasion as assessed with the glioma/brain aggregate co-culture technique in all three cell lines studied. It is concluded that an increase in the intracellular calcium concentration inhibits both growth and invasion of gliomas. The inhibitory effect of BK on glioma invasion may be mediated by a calcium-independent mechanism.