From Scarcity to Survival: Adaptive Strategies of A549 Lung Cancer Cells Under Serum Starvation

Serum deprivation triggers complex adaptive responses in A549 cells, influencing morphology, migration, stemness, drug sensitivity, and gene expression. Low-serum conditions promoted stress-adaptive and survival phenotypes relevant for modeling tumor microenvironments. These findings suggest that serum availability is a crucial determinant of cancer cell plasticity and behavior. Moreover, long-term adaptation to serum limitation may mimic the nutrient-restricted conditions of solid tumors, providing a valuable <i>in vitro</i> model for studying metabolic flexibility and therapy resistance mechanisms in lung cancer cells.