Fig. 1: Mesothelioma cell lines showed an impaired metabolic landscape.

A ADP/ATP Ratio Assay of IST-Mes-2, MPP89, and HMC35 cells was assessed. B NAD + /NADH ratio assay of IST-Mes-2, MPP89, and HMC35 cells was shown. C A bar diagram showing mitochondrial activity measured by Mitotracker assay. HMC5, IST-Mes-2, or MPP89 cells were stained with mitotracker red for 30 min and then analyzed by flow cytometry. The values were represented by MFI ± SE. D Confocal Fluorescence Images showing a higher number of Lipid Droplets per cell in IST-Mes2 and MPP89 compared to HMC35 cells. Images are representative of at least two experiments. Scale bar = 10 μm. E Lipid Droplet numbers were normalized to the number of nuclei per analysed image. Statistically significant differences were determined by Student’s t-test. Asterisk indicate a value of p ≤ 0.01. HMC35 N = 223, IST-Mes-2 N = 168, MPP89 N = 235. F A bar diagram showing ROS levels presented as MFI values ± SE. G A schematic diagram describes phospholipid biosynthesis pathway. H Total RNA of IST-Mes-2, MPP89, and HMC35 cells was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR for the expression of the key enzymes in phospholipid biosynthesis CCTα, CHPT1, CEPT1. Values were normalized using GAPDH as the housekeeping gene. Data were statistically analyzed by Student’s t-test and are reported as mean values ± SE of three independent experiments. The asterisk indicate statistically significant differences between mesothelioma cell lines and primary mesothelial cells.