Affiliations: [a] Department of Oncology of Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China | [b] Research Center of Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Medical College of Yangzhou University
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Buhai Wang, Department of Oncology of Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital, Yangzhou 225000, Jiangsu, China. Tel.: +86 13813194298; Fax: +86 514 87373735; E-mail: wbhself@sina.com.
Note: [1] These authors are co-first authors.
Abstract: Assess the effects of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in enhancing the radiosensitivity of esophageal cancer cell line in vitro. Three esophageal cancer cell line cells were exposed to X-ray with or without TNF-α treatment. MTT assay was used to evaluate the cell growth curve, and flow cytometry was performed to assess the cell apoptosis. The radiosensitizing effects of TNF-α were detected by cell colony formation assay. Western blotting was applied to observe the expression of NF-κB and caspase-3 protein in the exposed cells. Our results indicated that cellular inhibition rate increased over time, the strongest is combined group (P < 0.05). Western blotting showed that the decline expression of NF-κB protein was stated between only rhTNF-α and only X-ray radiation group and the maximum degree was manifested in combined group. Caspase-3 protein content expression just works opposite. Three kinds of cells in the NF-κB protein were similar without rhTNF-α. Then SEG1 NF-κB protein content was reduced more than other two kinds. We concluded that the cells treated with TNF-α showed significantly suppressed cell proliferation, increasing the cell apoptosis, and caspase-3 protein expression after X-ray exposure. TNF-α can enhance the radiosensitivity of esophageal cancer to enhancing the effect of the former.
Keywords: Tumor necrosis factor-α, radiation-sensitizing agents, rhTNF-α, esophageal cancer
