Relationship between Sonic hedgehog signaling pathways and radioresistance of esophageal cancer / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM:To investigate the potential role of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathways in the radioresistance of esophageal cancer.METHODS:Radioresistant cell line Eca109R was established by repeating X-ray irradiation at dose of 60 Gy in total using Eca109 cells as parental cells.The radiosensitivity of the parental and radioresistant cells was confirmed by colony formation assay.The cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay.The intracellular protein levels of Shh and Gli1 were determined by Western blot and immunofluorescence.RESULTS:The survival fractions at dose of 2 Gy for Eca109R cells and Eca109 cells were 0.937±0.013 and 0.499±0.042, respectively.The inhibitory rate of cell viability decreased gradually in the Eca109R cells (P<0.05), suggesting that the radioresistant cell line was successfully established.The results of Western blot indicated that the protein expression of Shh and Gli1 was much higher in the Eca109R cells than that in the Eca109 cells (P<0.05).Immunofluorescence staining showed that Gli1 was expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus, and presented nuclear clustering in the Eca109R cells.The positive rate of Gil1 expression in Eca109 cells was 52.3%± 0.035%, while that in Eca109R cells was 87.6%±0.021% (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:The radioresistance of esophageal cancer may be related to the activation of Shh signaling pathways with over-expression of Gli1 and other related proteins.