3D Clinorotation Affects Drug Sensitivity of Human Ovarian Cancer Cells

Numerous studies have reported that gravity alteration displays a remarkable influence on the biological processes of cancer cells. Therefore, gravity-related experiments have become a promising method of improving knowledge in the field of cancer biology and may be useful to detect remarkable implications for future cancer treatment. Taking this concept further, we used a 3D clinostat (3D-C; 10 rpm of changing direction) to analyse the effect of short-term exposure to simulated microgravity (sμg) on cisplatin sensitivity of drug resistant human ovarian cancer cells SKOV-3. This allowed us to investigate whether altered gravity affects drug susceptibility of cancer cells. Our studies revealed that sμg exposure affects SKOV-3 cells morphology and drug efficiency. We observed the altered cell shape, the presence of membrane blebbing and lamellipodia as well as the lack of filopodia when the cells had been cultured on 3D-C for 2 h. Cytotoxicity, cell death and cell cycle assays showed an increased percentage of apoptotic cells and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest after exposure on the 3D-C with cisplatin in comparison to the static control, non clinorotated cells. Cell proliferation and migration were altered after the exposure to sμg as well. Our studies suggest that the altered gravity conditions affected cellular mechanisms involved in cisplatin resistance, resulting in higher sensitivity of cancer cells to the chemotherapeutic. The investigation and clarification of these results may be a crucial step toward improving our understanding of the relationship between cellular resistance to chemotherapy and the response to altered gravitational conditions.