Abstract
Introduction: The relationship between lung cancer and COPD is well known. Recent clinical studies found a higher prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients suffering lung cancer. Although hypoxia has been suggested to be one of the main factors associated with lung malignancy, most studies addressing this topic have limitations due to the reduced number of patients recruited and because lung cancer has been analyzed avoiding its complexity in terms of different histotypes.
Aim: to investigate the effect of different patterns of hypoxia on cells of the most prevalent histological sub-types of non-small cell lung cancer: adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SC).
Methods: Four human lung cancer cell lines were exposed to normoxia (N) (13% O2), sustained hypoxia (SH) (7% O2), mild intermittent hypoxia mimicking OSA (MIH) (13% - 7% O2) and severe intermittent hypoxia (SIH) (7% - 4% O2) for 48 h and cell proliferation was quantified.
Results: SIH pattern enhanced the proliferation of H520 (SC) (~66%, p<0.001), while the MIH did it in H520 (~72%, p<0.001) and H1437 (ADC) (~40%, p=0.043). SH increased tumor cell proliferation (~56%, p=0.005) in H1437. However, none of the hypoxic profiles elicited measurable changes in any of the two other ADC cells (H522, H1975).
Conclusion: Hypoxic-induced cell malignancy strongly depends on both, the type of hypoxia (SH vs. MIH/SIH) and the cancer cell type. Therefore, our results provide critical insights for further clinical studies aimed at studying the relationship between lung cancer and respiratory diseases with different hypoxic patterns and severities such as COPD, OSA, obesity reduced ventilation, and overlap syndrome.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2019; 54: Suppl. 63, OA4930.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2019