title: Activation of AKT is associated with metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: Although radiotherapy results of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) at an early stage are better than other tumors, there is still a portion of patients with NPC who die before 5 years after the treatment; the underlying mechanism remains to be further understood. This study aims to investigate the mechanism by which NPC cells escape from irradiation. Patients with NPC at stage I was included in this study. All the patients were treated with irradiation. NPC biopsies were obtained from each patient before and 1 week after the start of radiotherapy. Expression of AKT in NPC tissue was assessed by Western blotting. NPC cell line, SUNE-1 cells, was treated with irradiation. The levels of AKT in SUNE-1 cells were also assessed. The frequency of apoptotic SUNE-1 cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. The levels of AKT were markedly increased in NPC tissue after treatment with irradiation, which was significantly correlated with NPC metastasis and mortality. After irradiation, NPC cell line, SUNE-1 cells, expressed higher levels of AKT than control cells. The knockdown of AKT in SUNE-1 cells markedly increased apoptotic cell rate. Radiotherapy can increase the levels of AKT in NPC cells that are associated with NPC metastasis and increase in mortality.
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, People's Republic of China.
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Long-Hua
authors: LH
authors: Chen
authors: Ya-Wei
authors: YW
authors: Yuan
authors: Qi-Sheng
authors: QS
authors: Li
authors: Ai-Ming
authors: AM
authors: Sun
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Guan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D002277:Carcinoma; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt