Fig. 1.

Glutamine is essential to maintain an aggressive mesothelioma cell phenotype. A/B Meso-1 cells were grown as monolayer cultures in regular cell culture dishes or as cancer stem-like cell-enriched spheroids in ultra-low attachment dishes. The absence of glutamine reduces proliferation and spheroid growth. C/D Absence of glutamine reduces Meso-1 cell invasion through matrigel and wound closure. E/F/G Treatment with the glutamine transporter inhibitor, V-9302, reduces Meso- 1 cell growth, spheroid formation and invasion. H/I/J Treatment with the glutaminase (GLS) inhibitor, CB-839, reduces Meso-1 cell growth, spheroid formation and cell invasion. Cell growth, spheroid formation and invasion were monitored as outlined in Materials and Methods. The values are mean ± SEM an asterisk indicates a significant reduction in response compares to control, n = 3, p < 0.05. Bars = 50 microns in all panels.