title: Possible prediction of the response of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on gene expression profiling.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heterogeneous efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy has led to controversies that have limited its application in clinical practice. Thus, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers predicting esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) chemo-responsiveness by gene expression profiling.
  
  
  METHODS
  CCK8 assay was used to evaluate the growth inhibitory effect of different concentrations of cisplatin and paclitaxel on the ESCC cell lines EC109, KYSE450, KYSE410, KYSE510, and KYSE150 to differentiate between chemosensitive and chemoresistant cell lines. Gene expression profiling and Real-time PCR were applied to analyze and validate the gene expression differences between chemosensitive and chemoresistant cell lines. IHC was conducted to examine the expression of selected target markers MUC4, MUC13, and MUC20 in 186 ESCC resection samples and the relationships between their expression and tumor regression grade was analyzed. Moreover, RNAi was conducted to instantly block the expression of MUC4, MUC13, and MUC20 to observe their influences on chemo-responsiveness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EC109 was found to be relatively sensitive to both cisplatin and paclitaxel, while KYSE410 was relatively resistant to cisplatin, KYSE510 was relatively resistant to paclitaxel. Gene expression profiling analysis showed that 2018 genes were differentially expressed in sensitive cell line compared to resistant cell lines. The expression patterns of MUC4, MUC13, MUC20 were validated. Low expression of MUC4 and MUC20 in resection samples was significantly correlated with better TRG. Blockage of MUC20 and MUC13 decreased the drug-resistance capacity and chemosensitivity, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MUC4 and MUC20 were identified as potential biomarkers for predicting the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ESCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lu-Yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Pathology, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wan-Pu
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ke-Neng
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D017239:Paclitaxel; D002945:Cisplatin
keywords: ESCC; MUC; chemotherapy response; gene expression profiling; neoadjuvant chemotherapy