Particulate matter (PM₁₀) destabilizes mitotic spindle through downregulation of SETD2 in A549 lung cancer cells

Air pollution represents an environmental problem, impacting negatively in human health. Particulate matter of 10 μm or less in diameter (PM₁₀) is related to pulmonary diseases, including lung cancer. Mitotic spindle is made up by chromosome-microtubule (MT) interactions, where SETD2 plays an important role in MT stability. SETD2 binds and activates α-TUBULIN sub-unit and promotes MT polymerization. Alongside this mechanism, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) senses the adequate mitotic progression through proteins such as BUBR1, AURORA B and SURVIVIN. Alterations in MT dynamics as well as in SAC cause aneuploidy and chromosomal instability, a common phenotype in cancer cells. In this study, we evaluated the effect of PM₁₀ in the expression and protein levels of SETD2, as well as the effect in the expression and protein levels of SAC and mitotic components involved in chromosomal segregation/mitosis, using the A549 lung cancer cell line. A549 cell cultures were exposed to PM₁₀ (10 μg/cm²) for 24 h to evaluate the expression and protein levels of SETD2 (SETD2), TUBA1A (α-TUBULIN), CCNB1 (CYCLIN B1), BUB1B (BUBR1), AURKB (AURORA B) and BIRC5 (SURVIVIN). We observed that PM₁₀ decreases the expression and protein levels of SETD2, α-TUBULIN and BUBR1 and increases the levels of AURORA B and SURVIVIN in A549 cells, compared with non-treated cells. PM₁₀ also caused a decrease in mitotic index and in the percentage of cells in G2/M when compared with control group. Co-localization of SETD2/α -TUB was lower in PM₁₀-treated cells in comparison with non-treated cells. Finally, micronuclei (MN) frequency was higher in PM₁₀-treated cells in contrast with non-treated cells, being whole chromosomes more common in PM₁₀-treated MN than in non-treated MN. Our results suggest that PM₁₀ causes missegregation and aneuploidy through downregulation of SETD2 and SAC components, inducing aneuploidy and predisposing to the generation of chromosomal instability in transformed cells.