Microgravity effect on expression of Raf kinase inhibitor protein on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line

The living organisms on the earth are under the influence of natural gravity force and if this gravitational force changes, they will be affected by a unique shock. Weightlessness has important effects on cell function by interfering with biochemical pathways and gene expressions. Study of these changes would be of benefit to astronauts and can improve the quality of human life on earth. In simulated microgravity, the expression of some genes and protein levels produced in cultured cells or laboratory animals have been altered. However, very little information is available on the effects of microgravity on gene expression. Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP) is a regulator of kinase
activity and a cell balancing agent that can act as a metastatic inhibitor in a variety of solid tumors, including breast cancer. In general, the RKIP expression in progressive tumors is reduced but its increased expression can result in reduced invasive potency of cancer cells without affecting primary tumor growth.

In this study, changes of RKIP gene expression were investigated in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells after 24 and 72 hours exposure to microgravity conditions using qReal time PCR method. We used t-test for data analysis and graphpad prism 7 project for plotting graphs.

The results showed that microgravity changed gene expression of RKIP and led to increased expression levels of the gene after 24 hours exposure to microgravity.

By optimizing the duration of microgravity, we can observe significant changes in RKIP gene expression in MCF-7 cell line which can be considered promising for the treatment of cancer.