NHE1 has a notable role in metastasis and drug resistance of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) represents a spectrum of hematological malignancies that affect human health. Metastasis and chemotherapeutic drug resistance are the primary causes of mortality in patients with T-ALL. Sodium-hydrogen antiporter 1 (NHE1) is established to serve a role in metastasis and drug resistance in numerous types of cancer; however, the function of NHE1 in T-ALL remains to be elucidated. Previously, the C-C-motif chemokine ligand 25 (CCL25) was identified to be involved in metastasis and drug resistance in the MOLT4 T-ALL cell line, as was the ezrin protein. The present study investigated the role of NHE1 in the metastasis of T-ALL using a Transwell assay and scanning electron microscopy, using MOLT4 cells as a model. The association between NHE1 and ezrin was assessed using laser scanning confocal microscopy. The effect of NHE1 on resistance to the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX) was also investigated using a cell viability and cytotoxicity assay. Expression of NHE1 increased following treatment with CCL25, accompanied by morphological changes in MOLT4 cells and the co-localization of NHE1 with ezrin. In addition, wild-type MOLT4 cells exhibited an increased polarization ability compared with NHE1- or ezrin-silenced cells. NHE1- or ezrin-silenced cells exhibited higher sensitivity to DOX compared with wild-type MOLT4 cells. In conclusion, the increased expression or activity of NHE1 may potentially be a poor prognostic indicator for human T-ALL.

CXCR4 is involved in CD133-induced EMT in non-small cell lung cancer.

Metastasis is the major cause of death in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been observed to be one of the key regulators of metastasis in certain cancers as it confers an invasive phenotype. CD133 is a widely used cancer stem cell (CSC) marker, and CD133-positive cancer cells are thought to be tumor-initiating cells with CSC characteristics, while CXCR4, a stromal-derived-factor-1 specific chemokine receptor, is highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and participates in cancer progression by regulating cell anti-apoptosis. We previously demonstrated that CXCR4 promotes NSCLC chemoresistance by upregulating CYP1B1, however, the relationship of CD133, CXCR4 and EMT processes in NSCLC metastasis are unclear. In this study, we detected a CD133 and CXCR4 high expression in tissue specimens from 64 NSCLC patients by immunohistochemistry, of which CD133 and CXCR4 were found to be positively associated with metastatic NSCLC patients. CD133 was found to promote NSCLC tumorigenesis and mediated the expression of CXCR4. Furthermore, CD133/CXCR4 co-expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor as shown by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, and was observed to regulate the expression of EMT-related molecules and transcriptional factors in NSCLC. In addition, our results showed that E-cadherin and Vimentin were simultaneously downregulated and upregulated, in CD133+CXCR4+ A549 cells, respectively. While E-cadherin was upregulated and Vimentin was downregulated in metastatic NSCLC patients. Vimentin expression was also observed to have a positive correlation with CD133/CXCR4 co-expression in NSCLC patients and survival analysis results suggested that Vimentin high expression might be significantly associated with poor survival rates of the patients. Thus, these results suggest that the CD133/CXCR4/EMT axis may be a prognostic marker and may provide novel targets for combinational therapies in the treatment of NSCLC.

CXCR4 promotes cisplatin-resistance of non-small cell lung cancer in a CYP1B1-dependent manner.

Chemoresistance is the main cause of treatment failure and high mortality in advanced lung cancer. Cisplatin, an important chemotherapeutic agent for lung cancer, has been observed to show enormously reduced chemotherapeutic efficacy owing to the development of chemoresistance. CXCR4, a stromal-derived-factor-1 specific chemokine receptor, is highly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and participates in cancer progression by regulating cell growth, apoptosis or invasion. In this study, we therefore investigated whether CXCR4 plays a role in the cisplatin associated resistance in NSCLC. We detected the expression of CXCR4 in tissue specimens from 64 NSCLC patients by immunohistochemistry. Cisplatin-resistant NSCLC cells A549/DDP and its parental A549 cells were employed in this study. RNA interference was performed to silence the CXCR4. The influence of CXCR4 on tumor cell chemoresistance, apoptosis and growth, as well as the relationship between CXCR4 and the expression of cytochrome p450 associated molecule CYP1B1 in NSCLC were evaluated. Finally, we found CXCR4 was significantly highly expressed in cisplatin-resistant NSCLC patients and the A549/DDP cell line. CXCR4 inhibition by siRNA reversed chemoresistance and decreased tumor cell proliferation. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the expression of CYP1B1 had a positive correlation with CXCR4, the CYP1B1 silencing significantly decreased CXCR4 expression levels and cisplatin resistance. Immunohistochemistry also verified that CYP1B1 was upregulated in NSCLC tissues of cisplatin-resistant patients. In conclusion, our results indicate that overexpression of CXCR4 in NSCLC promotes cisplatin resistance via CXCR4-mediated CYP1B1 upregulation. Thus, it can be used as a potential therapeutic target in NSCLC chemoresistance patients and be used as a clinical predictor of cisplatin response.