Lung cancer aggressiveness in an intermittent hypoxia murine model of postmenopausal sleep apnea

Objective: Intermittent hypoxia (IH)—a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)—enhances lung cancer progression in mice via altered host immune responses that are also age and sex-dependent. However, the interactions of menopause with IH on tumor malignant properties remain unexplored. Here, we aimed to investigate lung cancer outcomes in the context of ovariectomy (OVX)-induced menopause in a murine model of OSA. Methods: Thirty-four female mice (C57BL/6, 12-week-old) were subjected to bilateral OVX or to Sham intervention. Six months after surgery, mice were pre-exposed to either IH or room air (RA) for 2 weeks. Then, 105 lung carcinoma (LLC1) cells were injected subcutaneously in the left flank, with IH or RA exposures continued for 4 weeks. Tumor weight, tumor invasion, and spontaneous lung metastases were assessed. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) were isolated and subjected to flow cytometry polarity evaluation along with assessment of TAMs modulation of LLC1 proliferation in vitro. To determine the effect of IH and OVX on each experimental variable, a two-way analysis of variance was performed. Results: IH and OVX promoted a similar increase in tumor growth (∼2-fold; P = 0.05 and ∼1.74-fold; P 
Source: Menopause - Category: OBGYN Tags: Original Studies Source Type: research