title: Effect of AKT inhibition on epithelial-mesenchymal transition and ZEB1-potentiated radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: Radiotherapy is a major treatment regime for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and although initial responses to a complete course of radiation are good, recurrence and metastasis are frequent events. A number of previous studies have observed that ionizing radiation (IR) may enhance the migratory and invasive properties of cancer cells through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In the present study, a tumor cohort of 22 NPC and 7 normal cases (chronic inflammation only) were investigated and the expression of AKT was demonstrated to positively correlate with the expression of ZEB1. Following treatment with IR, 7/10 patients suffered recurrence and metastasis, in addition to high expression levels of phosphorylated AKT (S473) and ZEB1. The AKT inhibitor, GSK690693, inhibited AKT, blocked the expression of ZEB1 and vimentin and restored the expression of E-cadherin following IR, thus preventing the migration and EMT of the tumor cells. In addition, the inhibition of AKT via GSK690693 was shown to markedly increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to IRin vitroandin vivo. These observations indicate that GSK690693 may aid in the prevention of recurrence and metastasis following IR therapy in NPC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Liver Disease Medicine, Pingxiang Hospital, Pingxiang, Jiangxi 337000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sipei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: AKT kinase inhibitor; AKT/ZEB1 pathway; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; radiotherapy