Transcriptomic analysis of MCF-۷ cells treated in acidosis

The cancer microenvironment becomes highly acidic in the early stages of cancer. This phenomenon is caused due to poor vascular perfusion, hypoxia and fermentative glycolysis(۱). Cancer cells need to adapt to this environment to survive. When a tumour starts to form most of these pre-malignant cells are avascular. Thereby, they tend to switch to a more glycolytic metabolism to provide sufficient energy for these cells to thrive. This metabolic shift causes the cells microenvironment to become highly acidic due to the production of organic acids. This metabolic shift becomes hardwired to these malignant cells as Warburg stated previously which leads to the continuous production of organic metabolic acids and hence a highly acidic microenvironment. However, the underlying mechanisms causing these cells to adapt to this niche while the microenvironment becomes toxic to other normal cells is not properly understood. Thereby, further research in this area could lead to great discoveries regarding how cancerous cells evolve, survive and thrive. Multiple scientific literature has been published in this field of research however, a unique method of cell culture and a thorough analysis at a systems level seems to tackle the issue properly(۲).

Keywords:

Systems biology , RNA sequencing , microRNA , Breast cancer , Acidic microenvironment.