The response of Melanoma cell line A375 to cytotoxic T lyphocyte killing after serum starvation and MKL1 overexpression

Changes in cellular state has dramatic impact on cancer cell responsiveness to cytotoxic T lyphocyte (CTL) killing. In this study we tested serum starvation and increasing cytoskeleton of cancer cells. Serum starvation significantly upregulated the expression of genes involved in cholesterol biogenesis, which might be due a dramatic reduction in cellular cholesterol level. Indeed, cholestrol reduction sensitized the human melanoma cell line A375 for CTL killing. However, increasing the cytoskeleton of cancer cells did not cause a change in cancer cell responsiveness to CTL killing, suggesting cholesterol-associated membrane composition other than cellular rigidity plays a more important role in determining cancer cell responsiveness to CTL killing.