Hou Guiqin, Xue Lexun, Lu Zhaoming, Fan Tianli, Tian Fang, Xue Yanli
Laboratory for Cell Biology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, 40 Daxue Road, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, PR China.
Cancer Lett. 2007 Aug 18;253(2):236-48. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2007.01.026. Epub 2007 Mar 13.
mTOR/p70S6K pathway is considered a central regulator in various malignant tumors, but its roles in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which is a common cause of mortality in China, remain unknown. Here, we identify that the mTOR/p70S6K pathway is activated in ESCC; rapamycin and siRNA against mTOR rapidly inhibited expression of mTOR and the phosphorylation of its major downstream effectors, p70S6K and 4E-BP1, arrested cells in the G(0)/G(1) phase and induced apoptosis of ESCC cells. The findings may lay a foundation for making further investigations on the mTOR/p70S6K pathway as a potential target for ESCC therapy.
mTOR/p70S6K信号通路被认为是多种恶性肿瘤的核心调节因子，但其在中国常见的致死原因之一——食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）中的作用仍不清楚。在此，我们发现mTOR/p70S6K信号通路在ESCC中被激活；雷帕霉素和针对mTOR的小干扰RNA（siRNA）可迅速抑制mTOR的表达及其主要下游效应分子p70S6K和4E-BP1的磷酸化，使细胞停滞于G(0)/G(1)期并诱导ESCC细胞凋亡。这些发现可能为进一步研究mTOR/p70S6K信号通路作为ESCC治疗的潜在靶点奠定基础。
