title: RAD001 offers a therapeutic intervention through inhibition of mTOR as a potential strategy for esophageal cancer.
abstract: Esophageal cancer is one of the most frequently occurring cancers in the world. Targeting therapy strategy of cancer with specific inhibitors is developing and has showed promising antitumor efficacy. It is known that mTOR is an important controller of cell growth. RAD001 (everolimus) is a specific inhibitor of mTOR that can block the mTOR signaling pathway. The purposes of this study was to explore the inhibitory effects of RAD001 on mTOR signaling and the mechanism of cell growth suppression by RAD001. We examined both the expression of mTOR, p70S6K and S6 in SEG-1 esophageal cancer cells and KOB-13 normal esophageal epithelial cells and the efficacy of RAD001 against SEG-1 esophageal cancer cells. mTOR, p70S6K and S6 were overexpressed in SEG-1 esophageal cancer cells compared with KOB-13 normal esophageal epithelial cells. SEG-1 esophageal cancer cells were sensitive to RAD001. The survival rate of the cells treated with RAD001 over 0.33 microM was significantly different compared with that of control (P<0.01). RAD001 inhibited the phosphorylation of mTOR (Ser2448) and S6 (Ser240/244) in different grades and the expressions of mTOR, p70S6K and S6. As a result, RAD001 induced a dose-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, G1/S arrest and damage of cell shape. Taken together, these data showed that RAD001 can inhibit mTOR signaling and proliferation in SEG-1 esophageal cancer cells in vitro. It offers a therapeutic intervention through inhibition of mTOR as a potential strategy for esophageal cancer.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Inner Mongolia University, The Key Laboratory of Mammal Reproductive Biology and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Hohhot 010021, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukazawa
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakurama
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motoki
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohara
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Munenori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takaoka
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shirakawa
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamatsuji
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Naomoto
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002469:Cell Separation; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D000068338:Everolimus; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000187:drug effects; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000187:drug effects; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000187:drug effects; D019893:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D038762:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 70-kDa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D000068338:Everolimus; C546842:MTOR protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019893:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases; D038762:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 70-kDa; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D020123:Sirolimus