Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.

Pulmonary research requires models that represent the physiology of alveolar epithelium but concerns with reproducibility, consistency and the technical and ethical challenges of using primary or stem cells has resulted in widespread use of continuous cancer or other immortalized cell lines. The A54...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: James Ross Cooper, Muhammad Bilal Abdullatif, Edward C Burnett, Karen E Kempsell, Franco Conforti, Howard Tolley, Jane E Collins, Donna E Davies
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5085087?pdf=render
_version_ 1818289917815422976
author James Ross Cooper
Muhammad Bilal Abdullatif
Edward C Burnett
Karen E Kempsell
Franco Conforti
Howard Tolley
Jane E Collins
Donna E Davies
author_facet James Ross Cooper
Muhammad Bilal Abdullatif
Edward C Burnett
Karen E Kempsell
Franco Conforti
Howard Tolley
Jane E Collins
Donna E Davies
author_sort James Ross Cooper
collection DOAJ
description Pulmonary research requires models that represent the physiology of alveolar epithelium but concerns with reproducibility, consistency and the technical and ethical challenges of using primary or stem cells has resulted in widespread use of continuous cancer or other immortalized cell lines. The A549 'alveolar' cell line has been available for over four decades but there is an inconsistent view as to its suitability as an appropriate model for primary alveolar type II (ATII) cells. Since most work with A549 cells involves short term culture of proliferating cells, we postulated that culture conditions that reduced proliferation of the cancer cells would promote a more differentiated ATII cell phenotype. We examined A549 cell growth in different media over long term culture and then used microarray analysis to investigate temporal regulation of pathways involved in cell cycle and ATII differentiation; we also made comparisons with gene expression in freshly isolated human ATII cells. Analyses indicated that long term culture in Ham's F12 resulted in substantial modulation of cell cycle genes to result in a quiescent population of cells with significant up-regulation of autophagic, differentiation and lipidogenic pathways. There were also increased numbers of up- and down-regulated genes shared with primary cells suggesting adoption of ATII characteristics and multilamellar body (MLB) development. Subsequent Oil Red-O staining and Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed MLB expression in the differentiated A549 cells. This work defines a set of conditions for promoting ATII differentiation characteristics in A549 cells that may be advantageous for studies with this cell line.
first_indexed 2024-12-13T02:19:54Z
format Article
id doaj.art-df08cee82f3c4168936d7f0b2349f097
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-13T02:19:54Z
publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-df08cee82f3c4168936d7f0b2349f0972022-12-22T00:02:48ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-011110e016443810.1371/journal.pone.0164438Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.James Ross CooperMuhammad Bilal AbdullatifEdward C BurnettKaren E KempsellFranco ConfortiHoward TolleyJane E CollinsDonna E DaviesPulmonary research requires models that represent the physiology of alveolar epithelium but concerns with reproducibility, consistency and the technical and ethical challenges of using primary or stem cells has resulted in widespread use of continuous cancer or other immortalized cell lines. The A549 'alveolar' cell line has been available for over four decades but there is an inconsistent view as to its suitability as an appropriate model for primary alveolar type II (ATII) cells. Since most work with A549 cells involves short term culture of proliferating cells, we postulated that culture conditions that reduced proliferation of the cancer cells would promote a more differentiated ATII cell phenotype. We examined A549 cell growth in different media over long term culture and then used microarray analysis to investigate temporal regulation of pathways involved in cell cycle and ATII differentiation; we also made comparisons with gene expression in freshly isolated human ATII cells. Analyses indicated that long term culture in Ham's F12 resulted in substantial modulation of cell cycle genes to result in a quiescent population of cells with significant up-regulation of autophagic, differentiation and lipidogenic pathways. There were also increased numbers of up- and down-regulated genes shared with primary cells suggesting adoption of ATII characteristics and multilamellar body (MLB) development. Subsequent Oil Red-O staining and Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed MLB expression in the differentiated A549 cells. This work defines a set of conditions for promoting ATII differentiation characteristics in A549 cells that may be advantageous for studies with this cell line.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5085087?pdf=render
spellingShingle James Ross Cooper
Muhammad Bilal Abdullatif
Edward C Burnett
Karen E Kempsell
Franco Conforti
Howard Tolley
Jane E Collins
Donna E Davies
Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
PLoS ONE
title Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
title_full Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
title_fullStr Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
title_full_unstemmed Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
title_short Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype.
title_sort long term culture of the a549 cancer cell line promotes multilamellar body formation and differentiation towards an alveolar type ii pneumocyte phenotype
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5085087?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT jamesrosscooper longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT muhammadbilalabdullatif longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT edwardcburnett longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT karenekempsell longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT francoconforti longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT howardtolley longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT janeecollins longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype
AT donnaedavies longtermcultureofthea549cancercelllinepromotesmultilamellarbodyformationanddifferentiationtowardsanalveolartypeiipneumocytephenotype