Excited to share a recent preprint by Oliver Newsom, where we evaluate the functional contributions of serum for cancer cell proliferation. Inside: A broadly applicable serum-free media, Quantitative lipid uptake characterization, Evidence lipid scavenging > synthesis for cancer cell proliferation. - ThreadSky

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social • 5 days ago

Excited to share a recent preprint by Oliver Newsom, where we evaluate the functional contributions of serum for cancer cell proliferation. Inside:

A broadly applicable serum-free media,
Quantitative lipid uptake characterization,
Evidence lipid scavenging > synthesis for cancer cell proliferation.

Reposted from bioRxivpreprint

Defined media reveals the essential role of lipid scavenging to support cancer cell proliferation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.12.637975v1

Comments

duckerlab.bsky.social•5 days ago

Awesome work. Excited to see this in preprint form

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thanks Greg!

ryanlab.bsky.social•4 days ago

I wonder about the impacts beyond proliferation, such as in primary macrophage activation. Is this ITS supplement available Lucas? Very interesting work.

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•4 days ago

Thanks Dylan!

Almost certainly many effects in many systems, which (to me) is exactly the point. Neither FBS nor defined media = physiological, but comparisons across them (+other environments) could be illuminating. Would macrophages proliferate or activate in defined media? We don't know...

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•4 days ago

but it would be interesting to find out! If they don't activate, then investigating the salient metabolic/signaling differences for why not could reveal new, manipulable biology. Or at least, that is the hope!

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•4 days ago

Re: ITS - the product number is in the methods. There are many "ITS" products available with different nutrient iterations, so check out our note about it (in the Methods) for more info. I would also be happy to discuss the details via DM/Zoom if you interested!

ryanlab.bsky.social•4 days ago

Awesome I will read in detail and follow up. Thanks for the considered response too!

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Tissue culture is critical for biomedical research by providing a simple and controllable system to understand complex cellular processes. However, a pervasive issue is that nearly all cell culture medias require the addition of animal products, typically FBS, to support cell proliferation.

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Adding FBS is…weird. It’s expensive, undefined, morally dubious, and variable across lots. It introduces unknown factors that can obfuscate the effects of biological perturbations by complementation of metabolic and signaling processes…

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

In cancer cell culture, the growth factor component of FBS seems particularly unnecessary, given that cancer is a post-natal disease and cancer cells are defined by cell autonomous growth factor signaling. Yet, FBS is required for rapid cancer cell proliferation. Why? Oliver went to find out.

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Using live cell imaging of cancer cell proliferation in reduced serum conditions, Oliver found that cell proliferation doesn’t immediately slow, it decays over time, suggesting the consumption and depletion of essential nutrients.

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Indeed, testing various additives, he found that this “depletion phenotype” was largely driven by the need for metals and lipids, both absent from most basal media formulations. However - serum provides a multitude of potential lipid species to uptake – which lipids are actually consumed by cells?

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Quantitative lipidomics from media gave a clear answer – albumin-associated lipids (fatty acids, LPCs, LPEs). Importantly, supplementing cells with an ITS additive (containing missing metals) and any of these albumin-associated lipids equivalently supported serum-free cancer cell proliferation.

muirlab.bsky.social•4 days ago

Super cool!

lucasbsullivan.bsky.social•4 days ago

Thanks Alex!

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