Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016 December, 240(4)

ABCB1 Is Upregulated in Acquisition of Taxane Resistance: Lessons from Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines

RUOBING WANG,¹ ANTON SUMARPO,¹ YURIKO SAIKI,¹ NA CHEN,¹ MAKOTO SUNAMURA^1,2 and AKIRA HORII¹

¹Department of Molecular Pathology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
²Department of Digestive Tract Surgery and Transplantation Surgery, Tokyo Medical University Hachioji Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

Esophageal cancer is one of the common malignancies worldwide, particularly in eastern African and Asian countries including Japan. Taxane (paclitaxel or docetaxel) is one of the effective chemotherapeutic reagents for patients with esophageal cancer, but acquisition of chemoresistance frequently occurs; this is one of the most frequent causes for therapeutic failure. In this study, we established three taxane resistant esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines and explored possible mechanisms for the acquisition of chemoresistance. Microarray analyses indicated that the ABCB1 (ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 1) gene was significantly upregulated in taxane resistant esophageal cancer cell lines. Moreover, we found that siRNA mediated ABCB1 knockdown successfully restored drug sensitivity in both paclitaxel and docetaxel resistant esophageal cancer cell lines. In conclusion, we propose that ABCB1 might play a pivotal role in acquisition of taxane resistance and could be a promising target for treatment of patients with esophageal cancer after acquisition of taxane resistance.

keywords —— ABCB1; chemoresistance; docetaxel; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; paclitaxel

© 2016 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016, 240, 295-301

Correspondence: Akira Horii, Department of Molecular Pathology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan.

e-mail: horii@med.tohoku.ac.jp