Depletion of Glutamine Promotes Anti-proliferative Response in N-MYC Amplified Cell Line, SK-N-DZ

BSC-Ursa Minor 57

Neuroblastoma is one of the most common cancer in infants, it accounts for 50% of cancers in infants and for 7% of childhood cancers. Normally developed in early forms of fetal nerve cells, this type of cancer is rarely found in individuals older than 10 years. Glutamine metabolism has been the focus of several studies, because Glutamine, a non-essential amino acid, is essential for proliferation of various types of cancers. The increase of Glutamine consumption drives anabolic metabolism and increases cell death resistance. Proto-oncogene and transcription factor, N-MYC, can activate mitogenic signals that drive cell proliferation when mutated or amplified. N-MYC, an essential member of the MYC family, promotes metabolism in N-MYC amplified Neuroblastomas by affecting amino acid transporter ASCT2 expression. In this study, we compared Neuroblastoma derived cell lines, SK-N-DZ (N-MYC amplified) and SH-SY5Y (non N-MYC amplified) to deplete them of Glutamine and better understand its effects on proliferation. The objective being to determine whether or not SK-N-DZ, a N-MYC amplified cell line would be more sensitive to the depletion of Glutamine, rather than the SH-SY5Y, non N-MYC amplified cell line. To test this, both Neuroblastoma cell lines were cultured and incubated in complete medium with glutamine and media deprived of Glutamine. To test rates of proliferation between these cells an MTS time course assay was ran. Various Glutamine and cell density concentrations were seeded and arranged within a 96 well plate for 24, 48, and 72 hours. After each incubation, the absorption of the plate was taken, which allowed for the calculation of cell proliferation. Our Results show that the N-MYC amplified cell line does in fact respond sensitively to the depletion of Glutamine. As of now, no sensitivity has been observed to the non N-MYC amplified cell line, but further research will be conducted.