Abstract
With the rapid development of modern medical technology and the deterioration of living environments, cancer, the most important disease that threatens human health, has attracted increasing concerns. Although remarkable achievements have been made in tumor research during the past several decades, a series of problems such as tumor metastasis and drug resistance still need to be solved. Recently, relevant physiological changes during space exploration have attracted much attention. Thus, space exploration might provide some inspiration for cancer research. Using on ground different methods in order to simulate microgravity, structure and function of cancer cells undergo many unique changes, such as cell aggregation to form 3D spheroids, cell-cycle inhibition, and changes in migration ability and apoptosis. Although numerous better experiments have been conducted on this subject, the results are not consistent. The reason might be that different methods for simulation have been used, including clinostats, random positioning machine (RPM) and rotating wall vessel (RWV) and so on. Therefore, we review the relevant research and try to explain novel mechanisms underlying tumor cell changes under weightlessness.
Highlights
With the great strides of the space industry, people are staying in space for increasing amounts of time
Doubling the fluid shear force caused by the simulated microgravity increased glucose metabolism and reduced cell aggregation in BHK cells [18]. This shows that higher shear forces are acting on the cancer cells during the Random Positioning Machine (RPM) [16], which might lead to the different results on the two axis RPM and one axis clinostat
These genes can be grouped into the following categories: transcription factors—AKNA, E2F2, IRX3, and SOX9; factors related to cell adhesion—PCDHβ5, PCDH7, EPAC1, ITGB8, and ITGA3; factors involved in angiogenesis—tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 12A (TNFRSF12A), CAV1, PRKCA, VEGFA, and IL8; factors related to cytoskeleton organization—actin-binding LIM protein 1 (ABLIM1), KRT7, KRT80, TUBB2B, and TUBG1; factors involved in apoptosis—CAV1, PRKCA, BIRC3, BIRC5, BIRC7, BCL2, BCL3, TNFRSF12A, and Bcl-2-like protein 12 (BCL2L12); factors related to ECM organization—SERPINH1, ITGB8; factors involved in cell proliferation—FOSL1, TGFBR3, ANXA3; and factors related to cell cycle—CCND2, CCNE2, CCNE1, and CCNA1
Summary
With the great strides of the space industry, people are staying in space for increasing amounts of time. Compared to normal gravity (NG), the morphological function of cancer cells is obviously altered as a result of the unique microgravity in space, which provides a new method to study these problems. Doubling the fluid shear force caused by the simulated microgravity increased glucose metabolism and reduced cell aggregation in BHK cells [18]. This shows that higher shear forces are acting on the cancer cells during the RPM [16], which might lead to the different results on the two axis RPM and one axis clinostat. We summarize the main effects of microgravity on 3D structure formation and the morphological functions of human cancer cells and propose some novel views on this basis
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