[Investigating tumor cell motility under hypoxia and therapeutic resistance in cancer models].

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the role of the tumor microenvironment in two key aspects of cancer progression: regulation of tumor cell motility and development of resistance to targeted therapy.

METHODS

In vitro lung adenocarcinoma cell lines were used to assess the effects of hypoxia on cell migration, proliferation, signaling pathway activity, and expression of epithelial- mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers.

RESULTS

Hypoxia reduced single-cell motility and proliferation while promoting collective invasion and inducing cell line-specific EMT-related changes. Hypoxia-mimicking CoCl2 treatment failed to reproduce the effects of true hypoxic conditions. In the second part of the study, a patient- derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) model of BRAF V600E mutant melanoma was established to investigate acquired resistance to vemurafenib. Bulk RNA sequencing identified potential resistance-associated markers, however, protein- level validation was inconclusive.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results highlight that both hypoxia and therapeutic pressure modulate tumor progression in a complex, context-dependent manner.