Microgravity Affects Thyroid Cancer Cells during the TEXUS-53 Mission Stronger than Hypergravity.

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is the most abundant tumor of the endocrine organs. Poorly differentiated thyroid cancer is still difficult to treat. Human cells exposed to long-term real (r-) and simulated (s-) microgravity (µg) revealed morphological alterations and changes in the expression profile of genes involved in several biological processes. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of short-term µg on poorly differentiated follicular thyroid cancer cells (FTC-133 cell line) resulting from 6 min of exposure to µg on a sounding rocket flight. As sounding rocket flights consist of several flight phases with different acceleration forces, rigorous control experiments are mandatory. Hypergravity (hyper-g) experiments were performed at 18g on a centrifuge in simulation of the rocket launch and s-µg was simulated by a random positioning machine (RPM). qPCR analyses of selected genes revealed no remarkable expression changes in controls as well as in hyper-g samples taken at the end of the first minute of launch. Using a centrifuge initiating 18g for 1 min, however, presented moderate gene expression changes, which were significant for COL1A1, VCL, CFL1, PTK2, IL6, CXCL8 and MMP14. We also identified a network of mutual interactions of the investigated genes and proteins by employing in-silico analyses. Lastly, µg-samples indicated that microgravity is a stronger regulator of gene expression than hyper-g.

• Authors: Sascha Kopp, Marcus Krüger, Johann Bauer, Markus Wehland, Thomas J Corydon, Jayashree Sahana, Mohamed Zakaria Nassef, Daniela Melnik, Thomas J Bauer, Herbert Schulz, Andreas Schütte, Burkhard Schmitz, Hergen Oltmann, Stefan Feldmann, Manfred Infanger, Daniela Grimm
• Journal: International journal of molecular sciences (Int J Mol Sci) Vol. 19 Issue 12 (Dec 12 2018) ISSN: 1422-0067 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 30545079 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Membrane Proteins

Topics

• Cell Line, Tumor
• Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
• Gene Regulatory Networks
• Humans
• Hypergravity
• Membrane Proteins (metabolism)
• Space Flight
• Thyroid Neoplasms (genetics, pathology)
• Weightlessness