Integrin Alpha 6 Contributes to Radio-resistance in Head and Neck Cancer Cells

• Main Authors: Wei Ting Tsai, 蔡威廷
• Other Authors: A. J. Chen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/00313084119644860362

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫學生物技術暨檢驗學系 === 100 === Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the fifth leading cancer in Taiwan. Radiotherapy is an integrated part for the treatment of HNSCC. However, local recurrence or tumor persistence after radiotherapy, that is radiation-resistant (RR), is a major cause of treatment failure. To global survey highly potential genes associated with radioresistance, we have integrated RR transcriptomic dataset and clinical HNSCC exon-array dataset. Total of 88 genes were found and six were confirmed over-expressed in the RR subline cells. ITGA6 was further selected to examine its effects on radio-sensitivity. Results showed that ITGA6 stably knockdown could increase intracellular ROS level; accelerate apoptotic effect upon gamma irradiation and increasing caspase activity. These results further led to reduced cellular clonogenic survival, and accompanying with the suppression of Erk protein phosphorylation. Taking together, our study has demonstrated that ITGA6 contributed to radioresistance in HNSCC cells, which was presumably through Erk signaling pathways. This study serves as knowledge foundation for potential clinical application in the prediction/ prognosis of radiotherapy as well as in molecular targeting adjuvant therapy.