Vanadate-induced antiproliferative and apoptotic response in esophageal squamous carcinoma cell line EC109.

Vanadate is a transition element that present in nature and was shown to be a nonspecific inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatases. It was reported that vanadium (Vd) compounds exhibit antitumor actions in several cancer cell lines. This study aimed to examine the antiproliferative and apoptotic actions of different concentrations of sodium vanadate (NaVd) (+5) in esophageal squamous carcinoma cell line EC109 by determining the protein expression levels of cyclin D1 and caspase-3 following incubation for various times from 15 min up to 4 h. In addition, cell proliferation of EC109 treated with different concentrations (NaVd) was also measured using the MTT assay at 4, 12, 24, and 48 h. The cell cycle of EC109 cells exposed to different concentrations of NaVd was detected using flow cytometry determination at 24 h. Data showed that NaVd greater than 100 µM significantly increased cyclin D1. In contrast, reduced caspase-3 protein expression levels occurred at 50 µM. Cellular proliferation was significantly decreased at 50uM. The cell cycle was arrested at S phase with 100 µM NaVd. Taken together, data indicate that NaVd produced concentration- and time-dependent antitumor actions in EC109 cell line.