mTOR activation in immature cells of primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma and anti-tumor effect of rapamycin in vitro and in vivo

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• 作者：Chunguang Yang ; Jianhua Peng ; WenJing Jiang ; Yue Zhang ; Xiaoyun Chen ; Xianmin Wu ; Yi Zhu ; Huxiang Zhang ; Jianfu Chen ; Jixian Wang ; William C.S. Cho ; Kunlin Jin
• 关键词：Cancer stem cells ; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma ; mTOR signaling ; Rapamycin
• 刊名：Cancer Letters
• 出版年：1 December, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：341
• 期：2
• 页码：186-194
• 全文大小：3319 K

文摘

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is a key pathway in the progression of different cancers and in the homeostasis of stem cells. Here, we investigated the link between mTOR signaling and cancer stem cells (CSCs) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We found that human primary NPC expressed embryonic stem cell (ESC) markers: CD133, SOX2 and OCT4 as well as pmTOR and pS6. Primary ESC-positive NPC cells could form secondary NPC in BALB/c nude mice. Rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, significantly suppressed ESC-positive NPC cell growth in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. Our findings suggest that mTOR signaling is activated in CSC-like cells and plays an important role in NPC growth.