The emerging arena of space exploration has created opportunities to study cancer cell biology in the environments of microgravity and hypergravity. Studying cellular behavior in altered gravity conditions has allowed researchers to make observations of cell function that would otherwise remain unnoticed. The patient-derived QNS108 brain tumor initiating cell line (BTIC), isolated from glioblastoma (GBM) tissue, was launched on a suborbital, parabolic rocket flight conducted by EXOS Aerospace Systems & Technologies. All biologicals and appropriate ground controls were secured post-launch and transported back to our research facility. Cells from the rocket-flight and ground-based controls were isolated from the culture containers and expanded on adherent flasks for two weeks. In vitro migration, proliferation, and stemness assays were performed. Following cell expansion, male nude mice were intracranially injected with either ground-control (GC) or rocket-flight (RF) exposed cells to assess tumorigenic capacity (n = 5 per group). Patient-derived QNS108 BTICs exposed to RF displayed more aggressive tumor growth than the GC cells in vitro and in vivo. RF cells showed significantly higher migration (p < 0.0000) and stemness profiles (p < 0.01) when compared to GC cells. Further, RF cells, when implanted in vivo in the brain of rodents had larger tumor-associated cystic growth areas (p = 0.00029) and decreased survival (p = 0.0172) as compared to those animals that had GC cells implanted.

新兴的太空探索领域为研究微重力和超重力环境中的癌细胞生物学创造了机会。研究改变重力条件下的细胞行为使研究人员能够观察原本不会被注意到的细胞功能。从胶质母细胞瘤 (GBM) 组织中分离出的源自患者的 QNS108 脑肿瘤起始细胞系 (BTIC)，由 EXOS 航空航天系统公司和美国宇航局执行的亚轨道抛物线火箭飞行发射。技术。所有生物制品和适当的地面控制装置在发射后均已安全并运回我们的研究设施。将来自火箭飞行和地面对照的细胞从培养容器中分离出来，并在贴壁烧瓶上扩增两周。进行了体外迁移、增殖和干性测定。细胞扩增后，雄性裸鼠颅内注射地面对照（GC）或火箭飞行（RF）暴露的细胞以评估致瘤能力（n = 5 每组）。暴露于 RF 的患者来源的 QNS108 BTIC 在体外和体内表现出比 GC 细胞更具侵袭性的肿瘤生长。 RF 细胞表现出显着更高的迁移能力 (p < 0.0000)与 GC 细胞相比，干性特征 (p < 0.01)。此外，当 RF 细胞植入啮齿类动物体内时，其肿瘤相关囊性生长区域更大 (p = 0.00029)，并且存活率降低 (< /span> = 0.0172) 与植入 GC 细胞的动物相比。p