Friday, October 28, 2011
Hall 1-2 (San Jose Convention Center)
Identifying mechanisms of drug resistance is of great importance to cancer research. Of equal or greater importance is the ability to screen for drug resistance from patient biopsies in a rapid manner. This study focuses on both of these topics by exploring differences in metabolic intermediates between an ovarian cancer cell line that is resistant to cisplatin and its parental cell line. The hypothesis is that drug resistance imposes an increased metabolic demand on resistant cells. For this purpose it is essential to assess the differences in lactate and oxygen production along with glucose consumption. Experiments are performed on spheroids to mimic the in vivo structure of tumors allowing for the exploration of how cells may work together to develop resistance and combat chemotherapeutic agents. These studies are supported by viability assays using fluorescent markers to correlate modifications in metabolic intermediates with the percentage of live cells. Acquisition of knowledge concerning the role of cellular metabolism in resistance will provide alternative methods for identifying, and targeting drug resistance enabling appropriate chemotherapeutic treatment to ensue.