title: EphA2 silencing in nasopharyngeal carcinoma leads to decreased proliferation, invasion and increased sensitization to paclitaxel.
abstract: EphA2 is frequently overexpressed and functionally altered in a variety of human cancers. However, its roles in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unclear. To investigate the roles of EphA2 in the development and progression of NPC, we initially evaluated the expression pattern of EphA2 protein in NPC tissues using western blotting and CCK-8 assay. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis and invasion assay were conducted to observe the effects of EphA2 inhibitionin vivo.Our results demonstrated that EphA2 was overexpressed in NPC specimens and the expression of EphA2 was significantly associated with T classification, advanced clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, human NPC 5-8F cells were infected with lentiviral vector-mediated EphA2-specific shRNA, which resulted in the significant inhibition of cell growth, invasion of 5-8F cells and markedly enhanced the sensitivity of 5-8F cells to the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxelin vitro. Collectively, our results demonstrate that EphA2 is involved in malignant cell behavior and is a potential therapeutic target in human NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008 ; Otolaryngology Major Disease Research Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan 410008.
authors.forename: Pingqing
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Changyun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zhongwu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Guo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Donghai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yuanzheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Yongquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
keywords: EphA2; drug resistance; metastasis; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; paclitaxel