Microgravity Affects Thyroid Cancer Cells During the TEXUS-53 Mission Stronger Than Hypergravity

Thyroid cancer is the most abundant tumor of the endocrine organs. Poorly differentiated thyroid cancer is still difficult to treat. Human cells exposed to long-term real (r-) and simulated (s-) microgravity (µ) revealed morphological alterations and changes in the expression profile of genes involved in several biological processes. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of short-term µ on poorly differentiated follicular thyroid cancer cells (FTC-133 cell line) resulting from 6 min of exposure to µ on a sounding rocket flight. As sounding rocket flights consist of several flight phases with different acceleration forces, rigorous control experiments are mandatory. Hypergravity (hyper-) experiments were performed at 18 on a centrifuge in simulation of the rocket launch and s-µ was simulated by a random positioning machine (RPM). qPCR analyses of selected genes revealed no remarkable expression changes in controls as well as in hyper- samples taken at the end of the first minute of launch. Using a centrifuge initiating 18 for 1 min, however, presented moderate gene expression changes, which were significant for , , , , and . We also identified a network of mutual interactions of the investigated genes and proteins by employing analyses. Lastly, µ-samples indicated that microgravity is a stronger regulator of gene expression than hyper-.