News Release

Cleanascite™ Cited In Study of Lipid-driven Influences in Tumor Microenvironments of Melanoma

MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ, April 30, 2025 -- Biotech Support Group reports on an article, describing the simplicity and efficiency of their lipid depletion product to study lipid influence in models of melanoma metastasis in cell culture and mice.

Gurung et al., Stromal lipid species dictate melanoma metastasis and tropism, Cancer Cell (2025), https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ccell.2025.04.00

Cancer cells adapt to signals in the tumor microenvironment(TME), but the TME cues that impact metastasis and tropism are still incompletely understood. We show that abundant stromal lipids from young subcutaneous adipocytes, including phosphatidylcholines, are taken up by melanoma cells,where they up regulate melanoma PI3K-AKT signaling, fatty acid oxidation, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) leading to oxidative stress, resulting in decreased metastatic burden. High OXPHOS melanoma cells predominantly seed the lung and brain; decreasing oxidative stress with antioxidants shifts tropism from the lung to the liver. By contrast, the aged TME provides fewer total lipids but is rich in ceramides, leading to lower OXPHOS and high metastatic burden.

The article states “For experiments requiring secretomes stripped of lipids, lipids were removed using Cleanascite Lipid Removal Reagent (Biotech Support Group, X2555-100) on the secretomes.” “To verify lipids in YA secretomes lead to increased OXPHOS, we delipidated YA and OA secretomes with Cleanascite, before transferring the secretome to melanoma cells. This revealed that lipid-stripped YA and OA secretomes did not increase melanoma mitochondrial activity, OXPHOS, ROS, or affect the GSH/GSSG ratio”. “To confirm the metastatic efficiency and tropism are due to lipids and not due to other secreted components, we stripped the lipids from YA secretomes and exposed A375 melanoma cells to the lipid-stripped-YA (YA-A375-lipid-stripped), which confirmed that YA-A375-lipid-stripped cells lost their YA-induced lung tropism, reverting to enhanced liver tropism. Similarly, OA-MeWo-lipid-stripped cells lost their liver tropism and reverted to lung tropism.” The authors conclude that Aged TME ceramides taken up by melanoma cells activate the S1P-STAT3-IL-6 signaling axis and promote liver tropism. Inhibiting OXPHOS in the young TME or blocking the IL-6 receptor in the aged TME reduces the age-specific patterns of metastasis imposed by lipid availability. This work adds to the growing evidence that extrinsic cues from the microenvironment shape tumor cell behavior. The study identifies lipid availability, lipid uptake, lipid oxidation, PI3K pathway, ceramide pathway, and OXPHOS inhibition as potential adjuvant therapeutic targets to delay melanoma hematogenous spread to vital organs.

“Unlike alternative lipid-depletion methods that use solvents, Cleanascite™ is an aqueous suspension product and so it is very compatible with cellular models of disease and as shown here, compatibility with animal testing. The essential requirement is the maintenance of all other factors required for cellular activity after lipid depletion. We now have over 30 references in cell response applications with Cleanascite™. With confidence that it does not introduce confounding artifacts upon use, researchers can dispositively determine the influence of lipid factors on phenotypic changes in various disease models” states Swapan Roy, Ph.D., President and Founder of Biotech Support Group.

For more information visit: Cleanascite™ Lipid Removal Reagent and Clarification, at
http://www.biotechsupportgroup.com/Cleanascite-Lipid-Removal-Reagent-p/x2555.htm

Keywords: Melanoma, PI3K-AKT signaling, fatty acid oxidation, oxidative phosphorylation, tumor microenvironment, ceramides, Cleanascite™, lipid depletion

About Biotech Support Group LLC

Converging with cultural and technological disruptions forthcoming in healthcare, Biotech Support Group develops methods for cost effective and efficient sample prep essential for expanding proteomic analysis. Following a tiered business strategy, the company continues its growth in the consumable research products area. For this market, key products include: AlbuVoid™ and AlbuSorb™ PLUS for albumin & IgG depletion, Cleanascite™ for lipid adsorption, HemogloBind™ and HemoVoid™ for hemoglobin removal, and NRicher™ for low abundance, family specific, and targeted proteome enrichment. For more information, go to http://www.biotechsupportgroup.com

For Business Development, contact: Matthew Kuruc 732-274-2866, mkuruc@biotechsupportgroup.com