Abstract 6005: Generation of new oncology cell models through long-term acclimation under hypoxic and hyperbaric culture conditions
Authors: Xing Yewei , Czachorowski Abriel , Lim James , Wise Scott 
Published: March 2024

Traditional cancer cell lines used as surrogate models in vitro and in vivo have made significant contributions to cancer research and drug discovery. While cell culture and animal studies are critical steps in determining the efficacy, pharmacodynamics, and mechanism of action of novel anti-cancer drugs, it is well-known that cells grown in 2D culture systems have modified growth characteristics and different responses to chemotherapeutic drugs compared to tumors in vivo as a result of differing structural and environmental conditions that fail to replicate in vivo tumor microenvironments. AVATAR bioreactors (Xcell Biosciences, San Francisco, CA) were invented to address these limitations by providing discrete control over oxygen and hyperbaric pressure levels to better mimic the in vivo environment and allow cultured cells to be grown in conditions which mimic the human body. To better serve preclinical research needs, we generated new tumor cell models by long-term acclimating (LTA) existing cancer cells in the AVATAR incubator system using 1% O2 and 2 PSI conditions similar to the conditions expected in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Six different cancer cell lines of diverse origins including pancreas (MIA PaCa-2), breast (BT-474), colon (HCT116), prostate (LNCaP, PC-3) and melanoma (A-375) were adapted for 2-3 months with phenotypic changes recorded. Key marker changes were commonly observed in LTA cells compared to parental lines. For example, in HCT116 colorectal cancer cells, TME culture conditions induced a higher expression level of E-cadherin in both protein and mRNA levels (2.2-fold change), indicating a mesenchymal-epithelial transition of the cell after adaptation. This coincides with the observation that LTA adapted HCT116 cell bodies had a more angular cell morphology as compared to parental cells grown under conventional normoxic culture conditions. In-depth gene-expression analysis using a Nanostring tumor signaling pathway panel identified several common and tissue-specific gene and pathway changes. These included VEGFA, EGF receptor signaling pathway (EGFR, E-Cadherin, GRB7, c-Fos), TGF pathway (IGFBP3, TGFB1, TGFB2, SMAD7), and extracellular matrix signaling (LAMB3, ITGA5, ITGB3, ITGB8, PDGFA, CCND2). Current studies are focusing on drug response testing in 2D and 3D cultures based on above-mentioned gene and signaling pathway changes. Cell proliferation and migration capacity of xenograft LTA cells will be evaluated for the purposes of creating novel murine models for drug screening applications.

Citation Format: Yewei Xing, Abriel Czachorowski, James Lim, Scott Wise. Generation of new oncology cell models through long-term acclimation under hypoxic and hyperbaric culture conditions [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6005.