Experimental Model and Subject Details

All the cell lines used in this study are of human origin and were cultured at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2. HCT116 cells (gender: male) were maintained in culture in McCoy's 5A (Modified) medium (Gibco, 26600023) supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin-streptomycin; IGROV1 (gender: female), OVCAR-4 (gender: female), OVCAR-5 (gender: female) and RT4 (gender: male) cell lines were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Thermo Fisher Scientific, 31870) supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM glutamine and 1% penicillin-streptomycin; A2780 (gender: female), A375 (gender: female), SiHa (gender: female), MDA-MB-468 (gender: female), U2OS (gender: female), RKO, A549 (gender: male), HEK293T and Phoenix-ECO cells were cultured in DMEM (Thermo Fisher Scientific, 41966) supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin-streptomycin.

All animal studies were conducted in compliance with UK Home Office approved project license and in accordance with institutional welfare guidelines. For xenograft experiments, BALB/c female nude mice (obtained from Charles River, 7-8 weeks old), CD-1 female nude mice (obtained from Charles River, 8-9 weeks old) and athymic female nude (nu/nu) mice (obtained from The Jackson Laboratory, 7-8 weeks old) were used. Mice were housed 5 per cage in a constant temperature (19-23°C) and humidity (55% ± 10%) animal room, with a 12-hour light/dark cycle (lights on at 7:00 am) and were allowed access to food and water ad libitum. Mice were allowed to acclimatize for one week prior to the experiment and were randomly assigned to experimental groups.