Stable silencing of dll4 gene suppresses the growth and metastasis of esophagus cancer cells by attenuating Akt phosphorylation.

Stable silencing of dll4 gene suppresses the growth and metastasis of esophagus cancer cells by attenuating Akt phosphorylation. Oncol Rep. 2018 May 08;: Authors: Guo X, Duan Y, Ye X, Hu L, Xu T, Tong L, Yu M Abstract δ‑Like ligand 4 (DLL4) has recently been reported to be involved in the process of cancer angiogenesis and considered to play a vital role in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling, while the role of DLL4 in cancer metastasis and growth has not been systematically studied. In the present study, the esophagus cancer cell line Eca109 was infected in vitro with a lentiviral vector loaded with dll4‑shRNA to obtain a stable cell line of DLL4 expression which was downregulated through puromycin screening. The migration and invasion ability of the Eca109 dll4‑shRNA cells were evaluated by scratch and Transwell assays, respectively. The underlying signaling pathway was further explored by western blotting. Subsequently, to explore the role of dll4 in the development of esophagus cancer cells in vivo, a xenograft model was established by intraperitoneal injection with Eca109 dll4‑shRNA cells containing luciferase activity in nude mice. Then, small animal imaging system was used to evaluate the volume and metastatic potential of the tumors. Additionally, the overall survival rate of the nude mice was also recorded. Following infection with lentivirus, the expression of DLL4 in the Eca109 cells could be st...
Source: Oncology Reports - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Rep Source Type: research