Publications (2)9.72 Total impact
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Article: FLJ10540 is associated with tumor progression in nasopharyngeal carcinomas and contributes to nasopharyngeal cell proliferation, and metastasis via osteopontin/CD44 pathway.
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ABSTRACT: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is well-known for its highly metastatic characteristics, but little is known of its molecular mechanisms. New biomarkers that predict clinical outcome, in particular the ability of the primary tumor to develop metastatic tumors are urgently needed. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of FLJ10540 in human NPC development. A bioinformatics approach was used to explore the potentially important regulatory genes involved in the growth/metastasis control of NPC. FLJ10540 was chosen for this study. Two co-expression strategies from NPC microarray were employed to identify the relationship between FLJ10540 and osteopontin. Quantitative-RT-PCR, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry analysis were used to investigate the mRNA and protein expression profiles of FLJ10540 and osteopontin in the normal and NPC tissues to confirm microarray results. TW01 and Hone1 NPC cells with overexpression FLJ10540 or siRNA to repress endogenous FLJ10540 were generated by stable transfection to further elucidate the molecular mechanisms of FLJ10540-elicited cell growth and metastasis under osteopontin stimulation. We found that osteopontin expression exhibited a positive correlation with FLJ10540 in NPC microarray. We also demonstrated comprehensively that FLJ10540 and osteopontin were not only overexpressed in NPC specimens, but also significantly correlated with advanced tumor and lymph node-metastasis stages, and had a poor 5-year survival rate, respectively. Stimulation of NPC parental cells with osteopontin results in an increase in FLJ10540 mRNA and protein expressions. Functionally, FLJ10540 transfectant alone, or stimulated with osteopontin, exhibited fast growth and increased metastasis as compared to vehicle control with or without osteopontin stimulation. Conversely, knockdown of FLJ10540 by siRNA results in the suppression of NPC cell growth and motility. Treatment with anti-CD44 antibodies in NPC parental cells not only resulted in a decrease of FLJ10540 protein, but also affected the abilities of FLJ10540-elicited cell growth and motility in osteopontin stimulated-NPC cells. These findings suggest that FLJ10540 may be critical regulator of disease progression in NPC, and the underlying mechanism may involve in the osteopontin/CD44 pathway.Journal of Translational Medicine 05/2012; 10:93. · 3.41 Impact Factor -
Article: Fibulin-3 is associated with tumour progression and a poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinomas and inhibits cell migration and invasion via suppressed AKT activity.
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ABSTRACT: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is known for its highly metastatic character. Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment have not improved the high mortality rate that is attributable to early metastasis. Although several biomarkers correlate with metastasis and prognosis, the molecular mechanisms of NPC development and progression remain unclear. We demonstrate comprehensively that fibulin-3 is down-regulated in NPC. Loss of fibulin-3 expression is significantly correlated with advanced tumour and lymph node-metastasis stages, and indicates a poor 5-year survival rate. Functionally, fibulin-3 has the ability to suppress cell migration and invasion in NPC cancer cells by decreasing the activity of phospho-AKT. Conversely, its depletion by fibulin-3-mediated siRNAs may elevate phospho-AKT activity and significantly enhance the ability of NPC cancer cells to migrate and invade. Consistent with this negative association between fibulin-3 and phospho-AKT, their expression levels are inversely correlated in NPC specimens by immunohistochemical analysis. Thus, lower fibulin-3 expression is an important indicator of poor survival. It may also contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies to block the PI3K/AKT pathway in NPC cancer cells.The Journal of Pathology 09/2010; 222(4):367-79. · 6.32 Impact Factor