Cobalt chloride (
CoCl(2)), an agent demonstrated to stabilize
hypoxia-inducible factor-1, has been associated with various hypoxic responses, and recently, some reports have linked it to increasing tumour
malignancy. In this study, we observed the alteration of cell adhesion after
CoCl(2) treatment and analysed the potential mechanisms responsible for such adaptations in a
prostate cancer cell line PC-3 M cell. We found that
CoCl(2 )increased the tumour cell adhesion in a dose-dependent manner, which correlated with
reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. When cells were incubated with the
thiol reductive agent
pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (
PDTC), both the ROS generation and the CoCl(2)-induced cell adhesion were abolished. Moreover,
p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (
p38 MAPK) was activated in CoCl(2)-treated cells, which could be antagonized by
PDTC. And when cells were pre-incubated with specific
p38 MAPK inhibitor,
SB203580, the cell adhesion induced by
CoCl(2 )was diminished. Moreover, the
protein kinase C could up-regulate cell adhesion through activating
p38 MAPK. In conclusion,
CoCl(2) induced ROS generation, thereby placing cells under oxidative stress and up-regulating cell adhesion;
p38 MAPK and
protein kinase C could be activated in a ROS-dependent fashion, which in turn contributed to cell adhesion induced by
CoCl(2).