Relationship between OPN gene expression, esophageal cancer metastasis and the growth inhibition effect of artesunate on esophageal cancer cells / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the relationship between osteopontin (OPN) gene expression and the development and metastasis of esophageal cancer, and explore the effect of growth inhibitory of artesunate (Art) on regulating the expression of OPN in esophageal carcinoma cells.Methods The expressions of OPN gene and protein were detected in normal esophageal tissue (24 cases), esophageal dysplasia (21 cases) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissue (45 cases) byin situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and the relationships between the OPN gene and protein expressions and the pathological features were analyzed with SAS software. After intervention with different concentrations of Art (0, 30, 60, 120mol/L) on ESCC Eca109 cells for 24h, the levels of OPN expression and cell cycle were detected by flow cytometry.Results The expression levels of OPN gene and protein were significantly higher in esophageal cancer tissues than in esophageal dysplasia and normal esophageal tissue (P0.05), but showed a positive correlation with lymph node metastasis and the invasion depth of esophageal cancer (P<0.05). After treatment by Art for 24h, the proliferation index of Eca109 cells and the expression of OPN protein decreased significantly (P<0.01) in a concentration dependent manner.Conclusions The abnormal high expression of OPN gene may participate in the occurrence, invasion and metastasis of esophageal cancer, so can be used as an objective index of metastasis for esophageal cancer. Art inhibits the growth of esophageal carcinoma cells by down-regulating the expression of OPN protein.