Profilin1 Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Irradiation by Inducing Apoptosis and Reducing Autophagy

Title:Profilin1 Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Irradiation by Inducing Apoptosis and Reducing Autophagy

Volume: 13 Issue: 8

Author(s): H. Cheng, J. Li, C. Liu, W. Yao, Y. Xu, T. S. Frank, X. Cai, S. Shi, Y. Lu, Y. Qin, L. Liu, J. Xu, J. Long, Q.-X. Ni, M. Li and X.-J. Yu

Affiliation:

Keywords: Apoptosis, autophagy, DNA damage, pancreatic cancer, profilin1, radiation.

Abstract: Pancreatic cancer has an extremely poor prognosis mainly due to lack of effective treatment options. Radiotherapy is mostly applied to locally advanced cases, although tumor radioresistance limits the effectiveness. Profilin1, a novel tumor suppressor gene, was reported to be down-regulated in various cancers and associated with tumor progression. The objective of this study was to demonstrate how profilin1 affected pancreatic cancer radiosensitivity. We showed profilin1 was down-regulated in pancreatic cancer cells after exposure to radiation, and re-expression of profilin1 suppressed tumor cell viability and increased DNA damage following irradiation. Further studies revealed that up-regulation of profilin1 facilitated apoptosis and repressed autophagy induced by irradiation, which might sensitize pancreatic cancer cells to radiation treatment. Our findings may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for sensitizing pancreatic cancer to radiotherapy.

Cite this article as:

Cheng H., Li J., Liu C., Yao W., Xu Y., Frank S. T., Cai X., Shi S., Lu Y., Qin Y., Liu L., Xu J., Long J., Ni Q.-X., Li M. and Yu X.-J., Profilin1 Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Irradiation by Inducing Apoptosis and Reducing Autophagy, Current Molecular Medicine 2013; 13 (8) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/15665240113139990060