Survival Pathways Are Differently Affected by Microgravity in Normal and Cancerous Breast Cells

Metazoan living cells exposed to microgravity undergo dramatic changes in morphological and biological properties, which ultimately lead to apoptosis and phenotype reprogramming. However, apoptosis can occur at very different rates depending on the experimental model, and in some cases, cells seem t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2021-01, Vol.22 (2), p.862
Main Authors: Monti, Noemi, Masiello, Maria Grazia, Proietti, Sara, Catizone, Angela, Ricci, Giulia, Harrath, Abdel Halim, Alwasel, Saleh H, Cucina, Alessandra, Bizzarri, Mariano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adherent cells
Akt
AKT protein
Apoptosis
Biological properties
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - metabolism
Cancer
Cell Adhesion
Cell cycle
Cell death
Cell Line
Cell Survival
Cytokeratin
Cytoskeleton
Cytoskeleton - metabolism
ERK
Extracellular Matrix Proteins - metabolism
Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases - metabolism
Female
Floating structures
Fractals
Gene expression
Gravity
Humans
MCF-7 Cells
microgravity
Morphology
Organoids
Phenotypes
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism
Signal Transduction
Survival
vinculin
Weightlessness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Metazoan living cells exposed to microgravity undergo dramatic changes in morphological and biological properties, which ultimately lead to apoptosis and phenotype reprogramming. However, apoptosis can occur at very different rates depending on the experimental model, and in some cases, cells seem to be paradoxically protected from programmed cell death during weightlessness. These controversial results can be explained by considering the notion that the behavior of adherent cells dramatically diverges in respect to that of detached cells, organized into organoids-like, floating structures. We investigated both normal (MCF10A) and cancerous (MCF-7) breast cells and found that appreciable apoptosis occurs only after 72 h in MCF-7 cells growing in organoid-like structures, in which major modifications of cytoskeleton components were observed. Indeed, preserving cell attachment to the substrate allows cells to upregulate distinct Akt- and ERK-dependent pathways in MCF-7 and MCF-10A cells, respectively. These findings show that survival strategies may differ between cell types but cannot provide sufficient protection against weightlessness-induced apoptosis alone if adhesion to the substrate is perturbed.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms22020862