Abstract
As much as space travel and exploration have been a goal since humankind looked up to the stars, the challenges coming with it are manifold and difficult to overcome. Therefore, researching the changes the human organism undergoes following exposure to weightlessness, on a cellular or a physiological level, is imperative to reach the goal of exploring space and new planets. Building on the results of our CellBox-1 experiment, where thyroid cancer cells were flown to the International Space Station, we are now taking advantage of the newest technological opportunities to gain more insight into the changes in cell–cell communication of these cells. Analyzing the exosomal microRNA composition after several days of microgravity might elucidate some of the proteomic changes we have reported earlier. An array scan of a total of 754 miRNA targets revealed more than 100 differentially expressed miRNAs in our samples, many of which have been implicated in thyroid disease in other studies.
Highlights
Space, the final frontier, is the ultimate goal for humans to explore
Exosomal miRNAs are instrumental in post-transcriptional regulation of protein expression and have earned recognition, in tumorigenic pathways, including thyroid cancer [81,82,83,84]
With methods in place to engineer either cell-secreted or artificial exosomes loaded with a cargo of choice, as well as the possibility to target the recipient cell of choice precisely via surface protein presentation, the choice to scan our samples for differential miRNA expression was easy
Summary
The final frontier, is the ultimate goal for humans to explore. Through technological advancement combined with the age of information, space travel has become part of our reality. Multiple programs, manned or unmanned, have broadened our knowledge about space and the planets of our solar system; exploration of its planets and even commercial travel seems possible in the near future [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Research must find solutions to overcome multiple challenges to advance to these goals, on a technical level and to prevent the rather dramatic effects the space environment wields over the human organism. Researchers have started investigating the effects of weightlessness on the human body early in the history of spaceflight [13,14,15]
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