Gain of chromosome 11q13 is a common event in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The cortactin gene (CTTN, also EMS1), located at 11q13, plays a pivotal role in coupling membrane dynamics to cortical actin assembly. This gene has been implicated in the motility of several types of cells. In the present study, we found that the amplification and overexpression of the CTTN gene was associated with lymph node metastasis in ESCC. Functional analysis by small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of CTTN revealed that in addition to the effect on cell migration, CTTN influenced cell invasiveness by anoikis resistance. In vivo assay showed that inhibition of CTTN expression also decreased tumor growth and lung metastasis of ESCC cells. At the molecular level, we showed for the first time that the protective role of CTTN in anoikis resistance was correlated with the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway. Overall, the data suggest that CTTN is an oncogene in the 11q13 amplicon and exerts functions on tumor metastasis in ESCC.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death in China. In the present study, proteins in tumors and adjacent normal esophageal tissues from 41 patients with ESCC were extracted, and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) was performed using the pH 3-10 and 4-7 immobilized pH gradient strips. The protein spots expressed differentially between tumors and normal tissues were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and liquid chromatography electrospray/ionization ion trap mass spectrometry. A total of 22 proteins differentially expressed between ESCC and normal esophageal tissues were identified, in which 17 proteins were upregulated and 5 downregulated in tumors. Biological functions of these proteins are related to cell signal transduction, cell proliferation, cell motility, glycolysis, regulation of transcription, oxidative stress processes, and protein folding. Some of the proteins obtained were confirmed by Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. We showed that high expression of calreticulin and 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) were correlated with poor prognosis by Kaplan-Meier analysis and log rank analysis. Zinc finger protein 410, annexin V, similar to the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 variant 1 isoform c, mutant hemoglobin beta chain, TPM4-ALK fusion oncoprotein type 2, similar to heat shock congnate 71-kDa protein, GRP78, and pyruvate kinase M2 (M2-PK) were for the first time observed to be dysregulated in human ESCC tissues. The proteins here identified will contribute to the understanding of the tumorigenesis and progression of Chinese ESCC and may potentially provide useful markers for diagnosis or targets for therapeutic intervention and drug development.

PLR and NLR measurements can provide important diagnostic and prognostic results in patients with resectable gastric cancer.

PLK1 is essential for the maintenance of genomic stability during mitosis. In our study, we found that overexpression of PLK1 was an independent prognostic factor (RR 5 4.253, p 5 0.020) and significantly correlated with survivin, an antiapoptotic protein, in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) revealed upregulation of PLK1 mRNA and amplification of PLK1 gene, respectively. Depletion of PLK1 activated the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, which was substantiated by loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, reduction of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 as well as activation of caspase-9. Coimmunoprecipitation and confocal microscopy displayed that PLK1 was associated with survivin and PLK1 depletion led to downregulation of survivin. Cotransfection of survivin constructs could partially reverse PLK1-depletion-induced apoptosis. These data suggest that PLK1 might be a useful prognostic marker and a potential therapeutic target for ESCC. Survivin is probably involved in antiapoptotic function of PLK1. ' 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: PLK1; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; prognosis; apoptosis; survivin Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies worldwide. Although the use of earlier detection and improved therapeutic strategies results in a moderate reduction in mortality rates, the risk to sustain a recurrence of disease remains high. Furthermore, it remains unclear which treatment strategies should be used to best improve an individual patients' survival time, as there are not good therapeutic and prognostic markers. With accumulated information about molecular changes in the carcinogenesis and tumor progression, molecular targeted modulation of signal transduction pathways that are functionally abnormal in carcinogenesis and malignant development is becoming a novel therapeutic strategy. Among them, cell cycle kinases have attracted special attention, given the relevance of cell proliferation to oncogenic processes. Increasing data indicate that the aberrance of cell cycle kinases might lead to 2 cancer-related errors: unlimiting cell proliferation and abnormal cell division leading to chromosomal instability.Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a key regulator of DNA damage checkpoint, centrosome maturation, chromosome condensation, chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. 1 PLK1 is able to physically associate with multiple important cellular proteins such as p53, Chk2 and cyclin B1. 2-4 Ectopic expression of PLK1 in NIH 3T3 cells leads to transformation in vitro and in vivo. 5 PLK1 was overexpressed in several solid tumors such as breast, bladder, gastric, ovarian and colorectal cancers. [6][7][8][9][10] In our work, we found amplification and overexpression of PLK1 in ESCC when compared with normal esophageal tissues. Our results showed that alterations of PLK1 may be an independent prognostic factor in ESCC and found that PLK1 depletion induced apoptosis via mitochondria signaling pathways by po...

Previous studies in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs)