Published in:
01-07-2012 | Original Article
RETRACTED ARTICLE: HAX-1 Promotes the Chemoresistance, Invasion, and Tumorigenicity of Esophageal Squamous Carcinoma Cells
Published in: Digestive Diseases and Sciences | Issue 7/2012
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Background
HAX-1 is an anti-apoptotic factor and regulates the expression of DNA pol β. Interestingly, DNA polymerase pol β is overexpressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the functional role of HAX-1 in ESCC remains unclear.
Aims
To investigate the role of HAX-1 in chemoresistance, invasion, and tumorigenicity of ESCC.
Methods
Lentivirus-mediated overexpression or knockdown of HAX-1 was employed to establish ESCC EC9706 cell lines that expressed HAX-1 at different levels. The biological behaviors of these engineered cells were characterized in vitro and in vivo using a xenograft nude mice model. In addition, HAX-1 and pol β expression in the tumor tissues was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.
Results
HAX-1 overexpression promoted cell proliferation and resistance against cisplatin, increased cell invasion and suppressed apoptosis along with increased pol β expression. Conversely, HAX-1 knockdown inhibited the malignant phenotypes of EC9706 cells. The xenograft nude mice model demonstrated that HAX-1 overexpression or depletion led to increased or decreased tumor growth in vivo, respectively. Furthermore, a positive correlation of HAX-1 and pol β expression in the tumor tissues was observed.
Conclusions
HAX-1 promotes the proliferation, chemoresistance, invasion, and tumorigenicity of ESCC, and this is correlated with increased poly β expression. HAX-1 may represent a potential target to overcome the resistance and metastasis of ESCC.