WFIRM Studies Colorectal Cancer Chemotherapy Response in Space

Microgravity tests colorectal cancer drug response

Researchers are using the microgravity environment of the International Space Station to study how colorectal cancer tumors respond to chemotherapy, News-Medical reported.

The project, known as Tumor Avatars in Space (TAVIS), launched on October 13 aboard a NASA mission from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Scientists from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) are using the mission to observe how cancer cells behave in space compared to a control group on Earth.

Colorectal cancer remains one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the United States. While chemotherapy is a standard treatment, its effectiveness varies significantly between patients. This variability often forces a difficult clinical trade-off: increasing doses to combat resistant tumors can cause side effects that patients simply cannot tolerate.

The TAVIS study aims to find a way to make tumors more sensitive to existing drugs, potentially allowing for effective treatment at lower, more manageable doses.

Tumor avatars in orbit

To conduct this research, WFIRM scientists created tumor organoids. These are small, laboratory-grown replicas of tumors made from cancer cells originally obtained from actual patients. In the TAVIS mission, these organoids act as “avatars” for the patients’ real tumors.

By sending these avatars to the International Space Station, astronaut researchers can monitor how the cancer cells change their response to chemotherapy in a microgravity environment. A matching group of organoids is being treated on Earth to provide a baseline for comparison.

“If microgravity makes these tumors more responsive, we can look for the genetic changes behind that and try to induce the same changes here on Earth,” said Shay Soker, Ph.D., a WFIRM professor and the study’s principal investigator. “It’s similar in spirit to immunotherapy, which makes tumors more visible to the immune system. The tumor can run, but it can’t hide.”

The biological samples are expected to return to Earth later this month. Once they arrive, the WFIRM team will compare the space-grown organoids against the Earth-based control group to identify any differences in chemotherapy effectiveness.

Seeking genetic triggers for sensitivity

If the results show that the tumors are more responsive to treatment in space, the research will shift toward identifying the underlying biological drivers. The team will look for specific genetic factors, such as shifts in cancer cell metabolism, that might be responsible for the increased sensitivity.

The long-term goal is to replicate these space-induced changes on Earth. If the researchers can pinpoint the exact genetic pathways, they may be able to develop small-molecule drugs designed to trigger those same changes in patients.

Combining these new drugs with standard chemotherapy could make the drugs more potent without increasing the toxic load on the patient's body, changing how colorectal cancer is treated.

The TAVIS investigation is part of a broader series of studies conducted by WFIRM on the International Space Station. These projects investigate how the unique conditions of space influence biological systems to see if those insights can be applied to human health challenges on the ground.

“The International Space Station provides a unique research environment that allows us to study biological processes under conditions that cannot be reproduced on Earth,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., director of WFIRM and co-principal investigator of the study.

The project is a collaborative effort involving BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder and Axiom Space. Funding for the study is provided by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the International Space Station National Laboratory. The project was selected through the National Lab’s Igniting Innovation program in partnership with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division.

The TAVIS mission focuses on translating the unique biological data gathered in orbit into practical medical benefits for cancer patients facing difficult treatment regimens.

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