Deleted in Esophageal Cancer 1(DEC1) is down-regulated and contributes to migration in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown that the expression of Deleted in Esophageal Cancer 1 (DEC1) is significantly reduced in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) often develop esophageal carcinomas.


METHODS
We analyzed the expression of DEC1 and histone modifications in HNSCC cell lines. The motility and invasive ability of the HNSCC cell lines were also studied.


RESULTS
Of 18 cell lines, 12 (66.7%) showed down-regulation of DEC1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicated that H3 K27 trimethylation levels in the DEC1-down-regulated cell lines were greater than that in the DEC1-expressed cell lines. Migration assays showed that the DEC1-down-regulated cell lines tended to be more motile than the DEC1-expressed cell lines.


CONCLUSIONS
DEC1 is down-regulated and tends to contribute to the migration ability of HNSCC cell lines. In addition, H3 K27 trimethylation potentially plays an important role in the regulation of DEC1 expression.
Division of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Medicine of Sensory and Motor Organs, School of Medicine, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, Tottori, Japan. kunimon@med.tottori-u.ac.jp
Yasuomi
Y
Kunimoto
Seiji
S
Nakano
Hideyuki
H
Kataoka
Yutaka
Y
Shimada
Mitsuo
M
Oshimura
Hiroya
H
Kitano
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008745:Methylation; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
C403671:DELEC1 protein, human; D006657:Histones; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins