Differential cell architecture and microenvironmental responses of pretumoral and tumoral cellular models exposed to coverslip-induced hypoxia.

The tumor microenvironment is an altered milieu that imposes multiple selective pressures leading to the survival and dissemination of aggressive and fit tumor cell subpopulations. How pre-tumoral and tumoral cells respond to changes in their microenvironment will determine the subsequent evolution of the tumor. In this study, we have subjected pre-tumoral and tumoral cells to coverslip-induced hypoxia, which recapitulates the intracellular hypoxia and extracellular acidification characteristic of the early tumor microenvironment, and we have used a combination of quantitative phase microscopy and epifluorescence to analyze diverse cellular responses to this altered environment.

Differential effects of coverslip-induced hypoxia and cobalt chloride mimetic hypoxia on cellular stress, metabolism, and nuclear structure.

Hypoxia has profound effects on cell physiology, both in normal or pathological settings like cancer. In this study, we asked whether a variant of coverslip-induced hypoxia that recapitulates the conditions found in the tumor microenvironment would elicit similar cellular responses compared to the well established model of cobalt chloride-induced hypoxia. Comparable levels of nuclear HIF-1α were observed after 24 h of coverslip-induced hypoxia or cobalt chloride treatment in CAL-27 oral squamous carcinoma cells.