The HMMR Knockout A-549 Polyclonal Cells product provides a CRISPR/Cas9-edited polyclonal knockout cell population targeting the HMMR gene in the A-549 human lung epithelial carcinoma cell line. This polyclonal pool comprises a heterogeneous collection of cells with biallelic gene disruptions introduced across the population, offering a robust loss-of-function model without clonal selection. The product serves as a ready-to-use tool for studying HMMR-dependent biological processes, enabling researchers to interrogate gene function in a disease-relevant adenocarcinoma background.
The parental A-549 cell line originates from a 58-year-old Caucasian male with alveolar basal epithelial adenocarcinoma and is widely employed as a model for non-small cell lung cancer. These adherent cells retain key characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma, including expression of epithelial markers and responsiveness to growth factors such as EGF and TGFB, making them suitable for mechanistic studies of tumor cell signaling, migration, and proliferation.
HMMR encodes the receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility (RHAMM), a multifunctional protein that binds hyaluronan in the extracellular matrix and transduces signals to intracellular pathways. Upon ligation, RHAMM interacts with CD44, integrins, and SRC kinases, and engages downstream effectors including ERK1/2, AKT, FAK, CDC42, and RHOA. This signaling network integrates cues from growth factors (EGF), cytokines, and mechanical stress to regulate focal adhesion dynamics, actin cytoskeleton reorganization, and cell cycle progression, ultimately promoting cell adhesion, migration, transformation, and survival.
In A-549 cells, HMMR is endogenously expressed, and its overexpression has been linked to enhanced metastatic behavior in lung adenocarcinoma. Disruption of HMMR in this polyclonal population provides a physiologically relevant context to dissect its contributions to oncogenic motility and hyaluronan-driven signaling. The model enables side-by-side comparisons with wild-type A-549 cells to evaluate changes in invasive potential, response to microenvironmental stimuli, and sensitivity to therapeutic agents targeting the hyaluronan?CRHAMM axis.
Researchers can employ this knockout cell population in diverse functional assays, including wound healing and Transwell migration/invasion experiments to quantitatively assess directional motility. Western blotting and immunofluorescence microscopy allow for monitoring of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and FAK, as well as actin cytoskeletal architecture, while qPCR confirms HMMR transcript ablation. Typical applications extend to drug testing for anti-metastatic compounds, RNAi rescue experiments, and co-culture studies exploring tumor?Cstroma interactions. For additional product information or experimental support, please contact Ascent Research.
