Magic™ Anti-FAK (Phospho Y576, 577) monoclonal antibody, clone FQ2943Z

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 (mu g) 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 mu g on poorly differentiated follicular thyroid cancer cells (FTC-133 cell line) resulting from 6 min of exposure to mu g 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-g) experiments were performed at 18g on a centrifuge in simulation of the rocket launch and s-mu g 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-g samples taken at the end of the first minute of launch. Using a centrifuge initiating 18g for 1 min, however, presented moderate gene expression changes, which were significant for COL1A1, VCL, CFL1, PTK2, IL6,CXCL8 and MMP14. We also identified a network of mutual interactions of the investigated genes and proteins by employing in-silico analyses. Lastly, mu g-samples indicated that microgravity is a stronger regulator of gene expression than hyper-g.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to image live PtK2 epithelial cells in culture. By employing ultra low imaging forces (F-L < 100PN) whilst operating in contact mode, it was possible to achieve spatial resolutions in the range of about 25nm which was sufficient to resolve the constituent fibres of the cytoskeletal network and other subcellular detail. Force distance curves were obtained which allowed a Hertzian analysis of the cellular elasticity. In this instance a value for the Youngs modulus, Ec, was determined to be 75kPa. Time-lapse imaging in this low force regime allowed the non-destructive observation of cytoskeletal reorganisation during motility over extended periods.