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Free keywords:
ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH-FACTOR; RANDOM POSITIONING MACHINE; GENE-EXPRESSION;
EXTRACELLULAR-MATRIX; PARABOLIC FLIGHT; CARCINOMA CELLS; ALTERED
GRAVITY; DOWN-REGULATION; TUMOR BIOLOGY; SHEAR-STRESSAdherent growth; Three-dimensional growth; Cytokine; Microgravity; MCTS;
RPM; 2D clinostat;
Abstract:
Background: Multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) formed scaffold-free under microgravity are of high interest for research and medicine. Their formation mechanism can be studied in space in real microgravity or on Earth using ground-based facilities (GBF), which simulate microgravity. On Earth, these experiments are more cost-efficient and easily performable. However, each GBF might exert device-specific and altered superimposingly gravity-dependent effects on the cells.
Results: FTC-133 human thyroid cancer cells were cultivated on a 2D clinostat (CN) and a random positioning machine (RPM) and compared with corresponding 1 g control cells. Harvested cell samples were investigated by microscopy, quantitative realtime-PCR and Multi-Analyte Profiling. Spheroid formation and growth occurred during 72 h of cultivation on both devices. Cytokine secretion and gene activation patterns frequently altered in different ways, when the cells were cultured either on the RPM or the CN. A decreased expression of CAV1 and CTGF in MCTS compared to adherent cells was observed after cultivation on both machines.
Conclusion: The development of MCTS proceeds similarly on the RPM and the CN resembling the situation observed under real microgravity conditions, while no MCTS formation was observed at 1 g under identical experimental conditions. Simultaneously, changes in the regulation of CTGF and CAV1 appeared in a comparable manner on both machines. A relationship between these molecules and MCTS formation is discussed.
