Morphologic and genomic changes of thyroid cancer cell lines exposed to conditions of simulated microgravity

Microgravity in space impacts human health. In particular, thyroid cancer, which has a high incidence rate, has been the subject of numerous studies with respect to microgravity. However, most studies have focused on Western follicular thyroid cancer cell lines, while data regarding the effects of microgravity on Asian cell lines are lacking. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of simulated ground-based microgravity on two Korean thyroid cancer cell lines, namely SNU-790 and SNU-80. We found that both cell lines formed multicellular spheroids under simulated microgravity. Gene expression analysis revealed that in SNU-790 cells, histone-related genes were upregulated and microRNA-related genes were downregulated. Meanwhile, in SNU-80 cells, genes related to the cellular response to hypoxia were downregulated. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of microgravity on thyroid cancer cells. Further validation studies and clinical significance analyses are needed to fully understand the implications of these findings.