McKinley, S.; Taylor, A.; Peeples, C.; Jacob, M.; Khaparde, G.; Walter, Y.; Ekpenyong, A. Simulated Microgravity-Induced Changes to Drug Response in Cancer Cells Quantified Using Fluorescence Morphometry. Life2023, 13, 1683.
McKinley, S.; Taylor, A.; Peeples, C.; Jacob, M.; Khaparde, G.; Walter, Y.; Ekpenyong, A. Simulated Microgravity-Induced Changes to Drug Response in Cancer Cells Quantified Using Fluorescence Morphometry. Life 2023, 13, 1683.
McKinley, S.; Taylor, A.; Peeples, C.; Jacob, M.; Khaparde, G.; Walter, Y.; Ekpenyong, A. Simulated Microgravity-Induced Changes to Drug Response in Cancer Cells Quantified Using Fluorescence Morphometry. Life2023, 13, 1683.
McKinley, S.; Taylor, A.; Peeples, C.; Jacob, M.; Khaparde, G.; Walter, Y.; Ekpenyong, A. Simulated Microgravity-Induced Changes to Drug Response in Cancer Cells Quantified Using Fluorescence Morphometry. Life 2023, 13, 1683.
Abstract
Unlike plants which have special gravity-sensing cells, such special cells in animals are yet to be discovered. However, microgravity, the condition of apparent weightlessness, causes bone, muscular and immune system dysfunctions in astronauts following spaceflights. Decades of investigations show correlations between these organ and system-level dysfunctions with changes induced at the cellular level both by simulated microgravity as well as microgravity conditions in outer space. Changes in single bone, muscle and immune cells include morphological abnormalities, altered gene expression, protein expression, metabolic pathways and signaling pathways. These suggest that human cells mount some response to microgravity. However, the implications of such adjustments on many cellular functions and responses are not clear. Here, we addressed the question whether microgravity induces alterations to drug response in cancer cells. We used both adherent cancer cells (T98G) and cancer cells in suspension (K562) to confirm known effects of microgravity and then treated the K562 cells with common cancer drugs (hydroxyurea and paclitaxel) following 48 hours of exposure to microgravity via a NASA-developed rotary cell culture system. Fluorescence-guided morphometry revealed microgravity-induced loss of the significant reduction (p < 0.0l) to the nuclear to cytoplasm ratio of cancer cells treated with hydroxyurea. Our results call for more studies on impact of microgravity on cellular drug-response, in view of the growing need for space medicine, as space exploration grows.
Keywords
microgravity; chemotherapy; paclitaxel; hydroxyurea; morphometry; drug response; immune dysfunction; space medicine; terrestrial medicine; fluorescence microscopy
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Oncology and Oncogenics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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