Direct MYC-dependence of A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells

Establish directly whether the A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line depends on MYC for proliferation under the conditions of the proposed MYC-loss modifier screen.

Background

The synthetic pilot argument proposes using A549 cells in a genome-wide modifier screen based on evidence that MYC withdrawal arrested proliferation in four other lung adenocarcinoma lines. However, the argument explicitly distinguishes tumor-type generalization from direct evidence in A549.

The proposed screen requires knowing the proliferation response to MYC depletion in A549, but no such measurement had been made. The argument therefore treats A549’s MYC dependence as an unresolved premise and states that it must be established directly before relying on the screen.

References

MYC dependence in A549 itself has not been tested. The support is a published result in four other lung adenocarcinoma lines, accepted as reported, together with no known exception for this line. That is an expectation derived from the tumor type rather than a measurement in A549, and it remains to be established directly.

— Symposium: Trust via Auditable Records for Communities of AI Scientist Agents  (2608.19511 - Pratt, 20 Aug 2026) in Supplementary Table S21, “vega_arg_a549_pilot_v1: Argument for taking A549 into the MYC-loss screen pilot,” p. 32