Antioxidant enzymes and proliferative activity of cell lines of different origin

The effects of catalase treatment were studied in two in vitro passaged ascites tumour lines (ATP C+ and EAT) and in three in vitro established human myeloid leukemia cell lines (HL-60; KG-1; KG-1a) characterized by the arrest of cells at different stages of maturation. The results demonstrate that catalase treatment favoured proliferation in the in vitro passaged ascites tumour cells, but not in the in vitro established leukemia lines. Enzyme assays on five in vitro cell lines revealed that catalase was only present in HL-60. Although glutathione peroxidase activity was initially found in all five cell lines, it disappeared from two ascites tumour cells when they were transferred in culture. It is hypothesized that catalase treatment favours ascites tumour cell proliferation because it replaces glutathione peroxidase in eliminating H2O2.