We previously demonstrated that SAOS human osteosarcoma cells, incubated with carotenoid-enriched nanoemulsions (CEN), activated a nonprotective form of autophagy and delayed cell proliferation. The present work focuses on the biological effects of CEN on a derivative of SAOS cells named SAOS400, recently described for their radiation resistance and higher expression of therapy-induced senescence (TIS) markers. SAOS400 cells, incubated with CEN, activated a “cytostatic” form of autophagy confirmed by cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase and increased expression of autophagic proteins. Treatment of SAOS400 cells with CEN also resulted in decreased expression of the senescence marker p16INK4. However, when SAOS400 cells were γ-irradiated in combination with CEN, the threshold for cell death was reached (>60% after 96 h). We showed that this type of cell death corresponded to ‘cytotoxic’ or ‘lethal’ autophagy and that the combined treatment of CEN plus γ-rays was synergistic, with the combination index < 1. Since CEN contained β-carotene, the pure compound was used in SAOS400 cells at the same concentration present in CEN and up to 10 times higher. However, no radio-sensitizing effect of β-carotene was observed, suggesting that the biological effect of CEN was due to less abundant but more bioactive molecules, or to the synergistic activity of multiple components present in the extracts, confirming the functional pleiotropy of natural extracts enriched in bioactive molecules.
Keywords: autophagy; carotenoids; senolytics; therapy-induced senescence; γ-radiation resistance.