TubulinTracker, a Novel In Vitro Reporter Assay to Study Intracellular Microtubule Dynamics, Cell Cycle Progression, and Aneugenicity

Aneuploidy is characterized by the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes and is a common hallmark of cancer. However, exposure to aneugenic compounds does not necessarily lead to cancer. Aneugenic compounds are mainly identified using the in vitro micronucleus assay but this assay cannot standardly discriminate between aneugens and clastogens and cannot be used to identify the exact mode-of-action (MOA) of aneugens; tubulin stabilization, tubulin destabilization, or inhibition of mitotic kinases. To improve the classification of aneugenic substances and determine their MOA, we developed and validated the TubulinTracker assay that uses a green fluorescent protein-tagged tubulin reporter cell line to study microtubule stability using flow cytometry. Combining the assay with a DNA stain also enables cell cycle analysis. Substances whose exposure resulted in an accumulation of cells in G2/M phase, combined with increased or decreased tubulin levels, were classified as tubulin poisons. All known tubulin poisons included were classified correctly. Moreover, we correctly classified compounds, including aneugens that did not affect microtubule levels. However, the MOA of aneugens not affecting tubulin stability, such as Aurora kinase inhibitors, could not be identified. Here, we show that the TubulinTracker assay can be used to classify microtubule stabilizing and destabilizing compounds in living cells. This insight into the MOA of aneugenic agents is important, eg, to support a weight-of-evidence approach for risk assessment, and the classification as an aneugen as opposed to a clastogen or mutagen, has a big impact on the assessment.

Automated summary

Aneuploidy, an abnormal number of chromosomes, is a common feature of cancer. However, exposure to aneugenic compounds does not always cause cancer. Researchers have developed a TubulinTracker assay to classify aneugenic substances and determine their mode of action (MOA). The assay combines flow cytometry and DNA staining to analyze microtubule stability. The assay successfully classified microtubule stabilizers and destabilizers in living cells, but couldn't identify the MOA of aneugens that don't affect microtubule stability.