Cisplatin induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in tongue squamous carcinoma cells and obtains tumor stem cell-like characteristics

doi:10.19438/j.cjoms.2020.01.002

Abstract

Abstract: PURPOSE: To establish a cisplatin-resistant strain of tongue squamous cell carcinoma and observe whether it has tumor stem cell-like characteristics and whether epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurs. METHODS: The cisplatin-resistant cell line of tongue squamous cell carcinoma was constructed by cisplatin gradient concentration method. The chemoresistance and tumor stem cell characteristics of tongue cisplatin-resistant strain and its parental cell line were compared by MTS, flow cytometry and balloon culture. The changes of factors related to tumor stem cell-like including SOX2, OCT4, BMI1 and ABCG2 were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. The expression levels of EMT and E-cadherin and vimentin in tongue cancer cisplatin-resistant strains and their parental cell lines were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Transwell modified chamber assay was used to study the invasion and migration ability of the two cell lines. The data were statistically processed using SPSS 17.0 software package. RESULTS: We successfully constructed two squamous cell carcinoma cisplatin-resistant strains CAL27-res and SCC9-res, and the two cell lines were more resistant to cisplatin. Compared with the parental cancer cells CAL27 and SCC9, CAL27-res and SCC9-res cells showed an interstitial phenotype, E-cadherin was down-regulated, vimentin and N-cadherin were up-regulated, and invasion and migration ability was enhanced. At the same time, CAL27-res and SCC9-res cells had enhanced balloon formation ability, tumor stem factors SOX2, OCT4, BMI1 and ABCG2 were up-regulated, and the proportion of CD44⁺/CD24^- cells was increased. CONCLUSIONS: Cisplatin-induced tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells developed EMT and obtained tumor stem cell-like properties.

Key words: Chemotherapy resistance, Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, Cancer stem cells, Tongue squamous cell carcinoma

CLC Number:

R739.8

LIU Guo-xin, WANG Wei-wei, MAI Lian-xi, JIAO Jiu-yang, XIE Shu-le, LIN Zhao-yu. Cisplatin induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in tongue squamous carcinoma cells and obtains tumor stem cell-like characteristics[J]. China Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2020, 18(1): 10-16.

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