Effects of sevoflurane or propofol on cancer malignancy in ovarian cancer cells
Sevoflurane significantly increased the ovarian cancer cell viability of compared to naïve control (NC vs . S, 100.0 ± 1.5 vs . 122.0 ± 4.1, p < 0.0001, n = 6), while propofol significantly decreased the cell viability (NC vs . S, 100.0 ± 1.5 vs . 61.6 ± 5.4, p < 0.0001, n = 6) (Fig 1A ). The proliferation of SKOV3 cells was indicated by the number of Ki-67 positive cells (Fig 1B ). It was found that the number of Ki-67 positive cells was significantly increased by sevoflurane administration (NC vs . S, 32.0 ± 5.1 vs . 52.4 ± 13.8, p < 0.01, n = 6). However, Ki-67 positive cells were significantly decreased by propofol treatment (NC vs . P, 32.0 ± 5.1 vs . 16.0 ± 7.3, p < 0.05, n = 6) (Fig 1C ).
The migrate capability of ovarian cancer cells after sevoflurane treatment was significantly greater than that of the naïve control (NCvs . S, 55.2 ± 7.5 vs . 92.5 ± 8.2, p < 0.0001, n = 6) (Fig 1D ). In contrast, the migrate capability of cancer cells was inhibited by propofol exposure (NC vs . P, 55.2 ± 7.5vs . 34.3 ± 9.4, p < 0.01, n = 6) (Fig 1E ). The invasion of ovarian cancer cells was evaluated by comparing the number of invasive cells with Transwell assay. Significantly higher number of invasive cells was observed in the sevoflurane group compared to naïve control (NC vs . S, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs . 2.2 ± 0.6, p < 0.0001, n = 6) (Fig 1F ), whereas propofol exhibited an opposite effect (NC vs . P, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs . 0.4 ± 0.1, p < 0.05, n = 6) (Fig 1G ).