ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the possibility of rapamycin to up-regulate radiosensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and its molecular mechanism.Methods In vitro,with untreated cells as the control,NPC cells were treated with rapamycin,irradiation (IR),or both rapamycin and IR.Phosphorylation of S6 and GSK3β,expression of Cyclin D1,clonogenic survival,number of residual γH2AX foci,and cell cycle status between study groups were compared.In vivo,athymic mice bearing CNE1 tumor were similarly treated.Tumor weight,Cyclin D1 and phosphorylated S6 in the xenograft model were compared between study groups.Results The results showed that rapamycin alone decreased the phosphorylation of S6 and glycogen synthase kinase 3 β (GSK3β),and the expression of Cyclin D1 in NPC cells.Thus,rapamycin-treated NPC cells had lower cell viability,higher DNA damage and more G1 arrest than the control,which was reflected by the in vivo study that rapamycin significantly attenuated tumor growth and decreased the levels of Cyclin D1 and phosphorylated S6.Moreover,the combination of rapamycin and IR caused the highest cell death,DNA damage,G1 arrest and tumor regression compared to those treated either alone.Conclusions Rapamycin up-regulate NPC radiosensitivity by inhibiting signal transduction of Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/S6 pathway and Akt/GSK3β pathway,and by downregulating Cyclin D1 expression.