Fetal bovine serum (fbs)

Four different commercially available human cell lines were used in this study. Two lines represented healthy cell types. Human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa) (Gibco, USA), were grown in DMEM:F12 (1:1) + Glutamax (Gibco, USA) culture medium, supplemented with 10% FBS (Biosera, GB) and 100 I.U./mL of penicillin and 0.1 mg/mL of streptomycin (Biosera, GB). Normal human astrocytes (NHA) (ScienCell, Carlsbad, CA, USA), were cultivated in Astrocyte Media (ScienCell, USA) supplemented with 2% FBS (ScienCell, USA), 1% AGS (100×; ScienCell, USA) and 100 I.U./mL of penicillin and 0.1 mg/mL of streptomycin (Biosera, GB).
The other two cell lines represented tumor cell types. Human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y) (ECACC, UK), was cultivated in DMEM:F12 (1:1) + Glutamax (Gibco, USA), supplemented with 10% FBS (Biosera, GB) and 100 I.U./mL of penicillin and 0.1 mg/mL of streptomycin (Biosera, GB). Human glioblastoma cell line (T98G) (ECACC, UK), was cultivated in DMEM high glucose medium (Sigma-Aldrich, USA), supplemented with 10% FBS (Biosera, GB) and 100 I.U./mL of penicillin and 0.1 mg/mL of streptomycin (Biosera, GB).
Cells were cultivated at standard conditions (5% CO₂, 37 °C, humidified atmosphere). HDFa and T98G were plated at the density of 6.3 × 10³ cells/cm², NHA and SH-SY5Y were plated at the density of 9.4 × 10³ cells/cm².

Overexpression and editing experiments were carried out using the FLO-1 esophageal adenocarcinoma cell line obtained from the ECACC General Cell Collection and CP-A (KR-42421) Barrett’s Esophagus cells from ATCC (catalogue number CRL-4027). FLO-1 cells were grown at 37 °C and five per cent CO₂ in DMEM + 2 mM Glutamine + 10% FBS (Biosera) + 1/10,000 units of penicillin–streptomycin. CP-A cells were grown at 37 °C and five per cent CO₂ in Keratinocyte serum-free medium with 50 µg ml⁻¹ bovine pituitary extract and 5 ng ml⁻¹ recombinant human EGF (17005042, Thermo Fisher). For passaging of CP-A cells, 250 mg L⁻¹ soybean trypsin inhibitor in PBS was used (17075029, Thermo Fisher). Gene knockdown experiments were performed on OE19 cells obtained from the Francis Crick Institute cell services, OE33 cells obtained from the ECACC General Cell Collection and MFD1 cells obtained from the OCCAMS Consortium. OE19 and OE33 cells were grown in RPMI + 2 mM Glutamine + 10% FBS (Biosera) + 1/10,000 units of penicillin–streptomycin. MFD1 cells were grown in DMEM + 2 mM Glutamine + 10% FBS (Biosera) + 1/10,000 units of penicillin–streptomycin. All cells were maintained at 37 °C and five per cent CO₂, validated by short tandem repeat analysis and routinely checked for mycoplasma contamination.