TY - JOUR T1 - COX-2 Overexpression Induced by Gene Transfer Reduces Sensitivity of TE13 Esophageal Carcinoma Cells to 5-Fluorouracil and Cisplatin JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 537 LP - 542 VL - 33 IS - 2 AU - HIROKO OKAMURA AU - HITOSHI FUJIWARA AU - SEIJI UMEHARA AU - SHINICHI OKAMURA AU - MOMOKO TODO AU - AKINOBU FURUTANI AU - MASAYUKI YONEDA AU - ATSUSHI SHIOZAKI AU - SHUHEI KOMATSU AU - TAKESHI KUBOTA AU - DAISUKE ICHIKAWA AU - KAZUMA OKAMOTO AU - TOSHIYA OCHIAI AU - CHOUHEI SAKAKURA AU - YOSHITAKA TAKAHASHI AU - TANIHIRO YOSHIMOTO AU - EIGO OTSUJI Y1 - 2013/02/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/33/2/537.abstract N2 - Previous clinicopathological studies demonstrated that overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is associated with a poor treatment response of esophageal carcinoma. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of COX-2 overexpression in the chemosensitivity of esophageal carcinoma cells. TE13 human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells were transfected with a COX-2 constitutive expression vector, and stable transfectants overexpressing COX-2 were established. COX-2 overexpression in COX-2 transfectants was confirmed with western blotting and prostaglandin-E2 (PGE2) assay. Chemosensitivity testing revealed that sensitivity of COX-2 transfectants to 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin was significantly lower than in control vector-only transfectants, and that sensitivity of COX-2 transfectants was restored by the transfection of COX-2-specific siRNA. In addition, expression of antiapoptotic B-cell lymphoma-extra large (BCL-xL) and myeloid cell leukaemia-1 (MCL-1) was increased in COX-2 transfectants. These results indicate that COX-2 overexpression may reduce the chemosensitivity of esophageal carcinoma cells through up-regulation of the expression of antiapoptotic BCL-2 family proteins. ER -