Reassessing Cobalamin Requirements in Cell Culture

Cell Bio, a joint meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3-7, 2022.

Authors
David J. Elzi, Reggie Jacob, and Vivienne I. Rebel

Introduction

• • Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) is an essential co-factor for the synthesis of components required for cell growth and maintenance
  • Cobalamin is important for one-carbon metabolism which is involved with genome methylation and nucleotide synthesis
  • Cancer cells have increased metabolic needs
  • We hypothesized that cancer cell proliferation would be negatively affected if grown in cobalamin-deficient medium

Conclusions

• • Cancer cell lines grew in growth medium with at most 5.38 x 10-11M cobalamin, which is the detection limit of the cobalamin ELISA assay used in our studies
  • Cobalamin-restriction studies should be mindful of trace amounts of cobalamin in cell culture components, which are difficult to measure with most cobalamin detection assays
  • Cobalamin detection assays with a lower limit of detection would allow for a more accurate measurement of cobalamin levels in tissue culture reagents, which may lead to a better understanding of cobalamin requirements for cell growth